Swords and Arrows
by Maddyson Ruby
Summary: When her mind is taken over by Loki she is no longer in control of her actions. She joins Clint and Erik helping Loki invade the Earth whilst inside she's screaming. She has a skill set that Loki wants to utilise; after all, she's the daughter of Deadpool. Clint/OC. During/Post Movie
1. Chapter 1

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**AN: This will follow the movie; you just have to be patient. Just to say, there's a note at the bottom.**

**Chapter 1**

Rayne Wilson was dog tired. Every muscle in her body ached but that was all in a good day's work. If you didn't ache afterwards then you might as well have not done it, at least, that was Rayne's motto. By government records and to the general public, she was just a lowly grocery store clerk but what's behind the façade is always more important than what is portrayed to the public, a lesson Rayne knew all too well.

To the untrained eye a grocery store clerk was all that Rayne Wilson was and all she would ever be, but to a more aware person? She was a riddle – complex and difficult in all manner of ways.

Her body, toned and lean came from hours upon hours of hard work and blood, sweat and tears.

Her trained, calculating stare came from years of experience and a deep seated natural instinct.

The scars on her left wrist came from her first assignment that went bad.

A multitude of things that, when on their own, could be taken for a slight gym obsession or a clumsy youth but when taken all together, it lead to her status as someone or something extraordinary.

A mercenary was her technical title and for Rayne, it was in her blood. Her father was the Wade Wilson, famously known in the underground community as Deadpool or The Merc with the Mouth as The Wolverine had dubbed him.

Rayne was good at what she did. No one denied it. Those that did didn't exactly live long.

"Honey, I'm home," Rayne muttered to herself as she walked into her apartment, her 'tool' bag hanging from her arm.

"Little late, isn't it dear?"

The reply where there should have been only silence made the woman freeze up in place.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" the same voice asked again - mocking and cruelty hidden under a deceivingly smooth baritone.

"Who are you?" she demanded with the words so similar to the knives she favoured.

"That," he paused dramatically, his voice half-crazed, "is not of your concern. You need know, only this, I am destined to be your salvation – after all, freedom is life's great lie."

Rayne looked up to see icy green eyes, full of malice and misery. So cold were those eyes that Rayne had to force back a full body shiver. The eyes were framed by a pale, gaunt face with a nightmarish smile. For Rayne, he looked like he'd stepped straight out of a horror movie with his ruffled midnight black hair.

"Little Rayne…" he mocked, a smirk still firmly plastered on his face. "Whatever will you do…" he continued.

_I'll show you what I'll bloody do,_ she thought viciously, her hand sliding to the switchblade concealed in her jeans.

"How does it feel to know that soon, you will be liberated? No longer confined to the boundaries of your weak human mind?" he asked with his crazy smile still in place.

Instead of answering, Rayne lunged.

The intruder had only a moment's notice before she was on top of him, switchblade at his jugular. She laughed mockingly, her face lit with what some would call pure fury. It was her trademark expression; while some sneered at their targets Rayne wore a glare so enraged most people who saw it peed themselves. It was the expression an angel of death may wear when watching the world burn.

The man smirked up at her, undaunted in the face of what could be his imminent death, "Mortals – you never learn."

That insult to her species was enough to piss Rayne off just enough that all thought and control left her, so with a cry she slapped him straight across the face. His stunned expression told her that, whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been that.

"You will pay for your insolence!" he roared, kicking her away. Within a moment she was back on her feet, running to the wall where, at first glance, dozens of ornamental staffs hung. But with Rayne Wilson, nothing was ever what it seemed. She grabbed the first one her hand found and spun to meet the intruder head on.

The staff and sceptre clashed with a resounding smack leaving Rayne reeling as the intruder pushed down on his sceptre, forcing her lower and lower.

"You will kneel before me!" he spat, his eyes alight with madness. With renewed effort Rayne forced herself into a standing position, delivering a swift kick to his head. He growled, coming at her once more, despite the fact that the kick should have rendered him unconscious or at least majorly dazed.

The man lashed out, his sceptre slicing through her upper arm cleanly. She couldn't hold in her cry of pain as the wound seemed to almost burn her flesh.

The man laughed maniacally, reminding Rayne of an old school movie villain. "Who are you?" Rayne grunted out as she fell to her knees gasping. Pain seeming to radiate out from her arm to the rest of her body, spreading like a fast acting poison. The man smirked once more, taking joy from her obvious pain.

"Me? My name is Loki."

Rayne had only a moment to absorb that fact before there was a sharp pain in her chest. It was crippling and made her want to scream as it leeched away at her strength and spirit leaving her feeling numb and almost hollow. She felt her eyes begin to glaze over and her heart almost stopped at the sudden flood of energy that entered her being at that second. She tensed as her body was assaulted brutally by numerous images and sounds. It was chaos in her mind as Rayne felt her body go into overdrive, fighting off the onslaught that seemed to be flowing both into and around her in an effort to either suffocate or flood her brain.

Rayne felt her body begin to slow its fighting and writhing until it accepted the previously unwelcome intrusion. Just as her body gave up fighting an image appeared in her mind. A bright blue cube washed over her senses and usurped her mind in that instant until all she could see was a bright blue light tinging her vision and numbing her over.

To Rayne, she felt like she was in a cage, just inches from the surface. Locked up with no hope of escaping whilst being prodded and stabbed a million times over, she was trapped in constant feelings of despair and anguish. She watched helpless as she stood up calmly and approached Loki.

"Why did you resist freedom?" Loki demanded his voice smooth yet deadly like a serpent waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

"I do not know, Master Loki. I was weak and feared the gift you have given. I thank you."

Rayne felt her very lips form the traitorous words and wanted to vomit at how violated she felt in that moment.

"Yes," Loki agreed as he looked her over. "Pack your bags; bring anything and everything you might need."

"Yes, Master."

Rayne was a prisoner inside of herself being toyed and played with as though she were a rag doll. She felt and watched herself jog into her bedroom and pull an old family photo from the wall and toss it to the bed. She dialled the safe combination before submitting to a thumbprint and eye scan. The safe hissed before popping open revealing her tools of the trade. Rayne loaded her guns, daggers and knives into a bag before packing her jumpsuit and boots – her traditional and trademark outfit.

Just as she was about to leave with Loki she picked up her twin katanas and their harness before blindly following him out the door.

"I'm going to need you to use your… unique talents, Miss Wilson," Loki informed her. Internally Rayne was screaming, begging for salvation but outwardly all she did was nod in understanding.

Loki continued, "I already have another with talents on par to yours but I need your particular touch on this next job."

"What can I do to help, Master?" she asked.

Rayne loathed herself at that moment. Just because she was a mercenary didn't mean she had no morals to go with her skill set. There were just some people she refused to target. In virtually every case she was perfectly fine to go ahead with the kill but there were certain things she could not and would not do. One was killing children or pregnant women, the other was murdering publicly in front of civilians. The first was personal the second was just plain common sense.

The fact that she was possibly going to do both strangled her soul and made her want to weep and wail but she could do nothing but agree with his proposed plan and say, "Whatever I can do to help, sir."

000000-000000

Nick Fury was irate. Not only had Loki managed to take over the minds of two of his people but he had also collected an alleged mutant mercenary with the capabilities to work both long and short distance. She'd shown up on SHIELD's radar when she was just a child and was tagging along on her father's jobs, helping when she was allowed. Her skills at the tender age of six had been enough to incapacitate two of his team whilst her father took out the remaining eight agents. It was safe to say that they had escaped and since then SHIELD hadn't come across Rayne once. They'd come across her kills before but the daughter of Deadpool was nothing if not thorough and no prints or DNA were found on or around her target's body leaving her to be something of a SHIELD legend. The only way they could tell if a kill was 'hers' was by the lack of DNA evidence of the crime scene and the presence of a single black ace card – sometimes clubs, sometimes spades. Pitiful, really. But that was all SHIELD had to go on – no DNA present and her calling card, a black ace. It was probably some unimaginative rookie that named her on file as Black Ace but that was the way it as.

By the time Rayne Wilson turned twenty she had inspired the legend of the Black Ace – notorious mercenary and sword for hire.

"Sir, they're on the move," Agent Hill announced.

"Where?" he demanded, striding purposefully towards the console.

"Tulsa, Oklahoma," Fury watched the screen where a man – most definitely Loki – led a woman from the apartment building into full view of the security camera they were watching from. The woman was following behind him with a stoic face but what caught the attention of Nicolas Fur were her icy cold blue eyes.

"Shit!"

Director Fury wasn't normally one for expletives but SHIELD's luck had just taken a considerable nosedive leaving them up shit creek without a paddle.

"Call them in," he commanded, his bass like voice seeming to resonate around the room.

"What?" Agent Hill asked, surprise showing on her face before she quickly masked it. "But, Sir-"

"No buts, Agent Hill. Things just got dangerous," his face was so serious that everyone else in the room took his word for the gravity of the situation but Agent Hill carried on undaunted.

"Director, we're only up against swords and arrows! We have the means to stop this madness!" she practically exploded, leaving her usually blank and numb disposition behind.

"Exactly, Agent Hill. Swords and arrows," he spoke seriously, raising his voice only slightly to catch the attention of the confused agent. "Both of the people Loki has are dangerous. They are perfect examples of threats that we monitor and both will have no problem eliminating any and all obstacles in their path."

"Sir, with all due respect, their weapons are medieval. How much of a threat can they pose?" Agent Hill asked exasperatedly.

"A significant one, Agent Hill, a significant one. They make medieval work for them." With that last word said Director Nicolas Fury strode out of the room leaving the agents on the bridge confused in his wake.

"Swords and arrows, huh?" Agent Hill mumbled before going back to work.

**Done! What do you all think of this? I've had no reviews for my Twilight story **_**'The Artist'**_** so I thought I would try my hand at this. I've been desperate to do and Avengers fan fiction for forever and now I get a chance to. Besides, I haven't seen loads of Clint/OC stories or many stories at all told from the perspective of someone in Loki's group. Tell me what you all think of that. The more reviews I get, the quicker updates will happen. Your reviews inspire me! So, can I get a review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Chapter 2**

The cavern smelt musty like death and decay to Rayne. The smell seemed to almost clog her senses making it near impossible to breath. She had been led down rickety staircases into an unused underground chamber that Loki seemed to have made his base of operations. Soldiers and guards jogged through the compound keeping away from the high flying sparks the scientists and technicians were causing. On the outside Rayne took this in coolly as though the happenings of that day were common place but inside she was analysing everything with a professional eye, looking for answers to the questions she held – anything that could give her a hint as to what in the world was going on.

The name Loki rang a bell in the recesses of her mind for what reason she struggled to properly remember only managing to dredge up random bits of information like his status as the Norse God of Mischief and Lies and the random bit of trivia that he fathered a horse named Sleipnir. The former was the only helpful fact she was able to conjure, the rest was either gibberish or a few select words here and there – not particularly helpful in the long run.

"Put it over there," the older man ordered before looking to his younger companion on the other side of the wall, "Where did you find all these people?"

The younger man fixed his icy blue gaze onto the grey haired gentleman, "SHIELD has no shortage of enemies, Doctor."

SHIELD – it was most definitely a familiar name to Rayne Wilson. The secret organization had been trying to catch her for years to either 'recruit' her or incapacitate her but in actual fact those were one in the same.

Her wandering eyes casually glanced around the room, taking everything in as her instincts demanded before they landed on a metal panel only for her inner self to start in shock at her vivid and awe inducing eyes. Her eyes were alight like two glittering, ice cold sapphires, rather similar to the eyes of the people around her.

Agent Barton turned to the doctor before lifting up the tablet he had, "Is this the stuff you need?"

"Yeah, Iridium. It's found in meteorites. It forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of." Doctor Selvig carried on.

"Especially if SHIELD knows you need it."

"Well I didn't know," the Doctor announced with no concerns an almost delirious smile on his face. "Hey!" he called spotting Loki with a partially hidden Rayne behind him.

"Agent Barton, Doctor Selvig," Loki announced, drawing the stares of everyone in the room as he approached the conversing men with her following behind him closely.

"This is our new Agent, Rayne Wilson," Loki introduced, something sinister lurking under his suave exterior.

"Agent Wilson," both Agent Barton and Doctor Selvig acknowledged. Their eyes accessing her carefully for the threat they obviously knew she could pose.

Erik Selvig turned to the God of Mischief with the same delirious smile on his face, "The Tesseract has shown me so much. It's more than knowledge. It's truth."

"I know."

Loki's smirk was the essence of lies and deceit as he looked down at Doctor Selvig with all the emotion of a young child observing bugs he'd later take great joy in squishing. It unsettled Rayne beyond belief and she'd grown up on the job with her father surrounded by shady people.

"What did it show you, Agent Barton?" he turned his green eyed gaze to the ever watchful agent who smirked malignantly.

"My next target."

"Tell me what you need," Loki ordered, his exterior calm like the cat that caught the canary.

Rayne was still trapped in her own mind as she played witness to the atrocities they seemed to be planning and she could do nothing but go along with it. At the corner of her mind she could feel the constant hypnotic tugging of the Tesseract at her consciousness – her very soul. The power was almost seductive in its lure as it pulsed along with her conscious.

The man pulled a bow from its case with a proud almost loving smirk, "I need a distraction. And an eyeball."

"Well," Loki paused melodramatically, glancing between Rayne and Agent Barton, "I think that can be arranged. Agent Wilson?"

"Yes, Sir?" she barked out like a trained military lap dog, inwardly cringing at the behaviour.

Loki seemed to smirk even bigger, "How do you feel about causing a little distraction?"

Rayne felt a smirk slither its way onto her face as she remarked almost innocently, "I'd love to, Sir. It's been a while since I had the opportunity to play my violin."

"Excellent."

000000-000000

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. It's fine," Captain America replied, making an obvious effort to avoid eye contact with the hero-worshipping and enthusiastic, Agent Phil Coulson.

The silence descended on the pair as the agents hurried about their stations, "It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all." Silence began to creep in once more so Coulson spoke again, "Near mint. Slight foxing around the edges but-"

"We got a hit. A sixty seven per cent match," an underling announced, successfully drawing the attention of everyone on the bridge. "Wait. Cross match, seventy nine per cent."

Coulson took control as he walked over purposefully, observing the monitor with his shrewd eyes, "Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding…"

There was a pause before Coulson noticed someone else that the lower ranking agent had failed to pick up on, "Who is she?"

As the agent zoomed in to see the form of an unidentified female, she turned to face the camera perfectly. The bridge of the Helicarrier collectively held their breath as they waited for the computer to analyse the woman.

Fury was hoping it wasn't the woman he suspected it to be. It was enough to know that Loki had already gotten to her but to know that she was actively participating brought a sense of rarely felt dread to him. She was a force to be reckoned with.

'No Match' loomed on the screen in bright, bold red letters confirming Fury's suspicions. He stepped forward catching the eyes of Coulson and Steve Rodgers, "That woman is Rayne Wilson, I suspect. Mercenary for anyone with the cash to pay her fees and daughter of Deadpool, she's not exactly like the dames you're more familiar with, Captain."

"Deadpool?" came the uncertain voice of Captain America, his face a curious blend of both puzzled and confused.

Coulson turned to his hero, eager to help but was abruptly blocked by Fury, "His name is Wade Wilson, he's a mutant that was previously involved in Colonel William Stryker's Weapon X program, and he became Deadpool after having the DNA of other mutants grafted to his. He was a literal killing machine until his mental faculties returned after being decapitated by The Wolverine. He healed and moved on – went back to being a mercenary until his daughter - Rayne, came along. He trained her and took her along with him."

It became silent once more as Steve thought over all the Director had told him, finally he nodded, "So, what can she do?"

"Let's just say this, don't get near her if she has a blade on her person," Fury remarked with a snort before turning his attention to the screens in front of him, effectively ending the conversation.

Steve nodded to the people on the bridge before rushing off to change into his uniform.

000000-000000

As Rayne zipped up the dress she began applying all manner of cosmetic products as she was forced to by the Tesseract. The real Rayne Wilson hardly bothered with beauty; it wasn't needed generally in her line of work. She was a simple wash and wear kind of girl. As long as her hair and teeth were brushed and she was appropriately clothed then by her standards she was ready to go. But the influence of the Tesseract was changing that. It was forcing her out of her own mind and into a cage to be played with, her reality warped beyond belief. She breathed in deep before beginning the long process of attaching various blades to her body. First came the three knives she strapped to both of the holsters on her thighs. Then she slid small throwing knives into the holsters on each of her forearms. Then she pulled her violin from its case and opened the panel on its back, inserting a dagger just in case.

As soon as she was sure she was ready she headed back to Loki whom was her 'date' to the event. They left instantly at a wave of Loki's pale hand and ware magically teleported to Stuttgart, Germany.

Rayne headed inside quickly and began playing with the orchestra and the other violinists just accepted her with the excuse 'I was a late addition.' As long as it worked and let her do her job it was okay.

She sat playing what was probably the most boring piece of music she had ever heard – or that's what she really thought inside – for a majority of the evening, watching socialites become more and more inebriated, pretending to listen and understand the work they were, in fact, celebrating.

Just as the music began to crescendo Rayne noticed Loki enter and walk along the balcony, inwardly screaming that she didn't want to do this – attacking in public was wrong, especially innocents.

He strolled down the large staircase looking so suave and debonair, a complete contrast to his behaviour as soon as he reached the last stair.

The man spun back after being hit by Loki's staff causing total, complete and utter chaos as the guests and waiters ran in numerous directions. Against Rayne's will she found herself standing and throwing a knife straight at a waiter who had been running for the side doors. It impaled his ribs making him choke and splutter as blood poured but Rayne saw none of that as she turned to her left and launched a barrage of knives in quick succession each one hitting their mark exactly with a morbid _thunk_.

Screams rung through her ears as Rayne became consumed in her actions. The shrieks and cries of pain make her writhe in her mental cage. She was a prisoner in her own mind and it just about killed her – she felt so violated by what her body had been forced to do that she felt physically ill.

As the Homo sapiens ran for the door she followed after them, throwing knives that hit their marks perfectly with that same sickening _thunk_ that seemed to pound through her head.

When her supply of knives ran cold she smashed the bow of her violin straight into one of the ornate pillars of the ball room. It shattered instantly revealing two katana blades, reminiscent of the ones her father was so very fond of. She wielded them like an expert as she sliced through flesh and bone, her dress ripping to the thigh with an audible _snit_.

She ran from the room to the cold outside and watched as Loki rounded up the humans from inside, standing over them like the god he was. She smirked with approval because these were the same kind of people who had ridiculed her during her life; treated her like a freak just because he was gifted and special. But that was the human race in a nutshell – violent, selfish and all around cruel. Particularly to those who didn't conform to their ideals. The race had taken years of hate crimes to give up segregation and their racist beliefs and even that wasn't truly over. No, the mutants would never be accepted into society but they were Homo superior for a reason and it was time that these humans saw that. Internally Rayne couldn't help but agree because she had been tortured constantly by the human race and they had shown no remorse simply because she wasn't just like them. It sickened her to her core but they didn't look like they were ever going to change. Maybe they had to be forced to change; maybe that was the answer…

**Tada! Done, another chapter in the bag! Now, I would like to know what you all think, there was a great reception to this story and I'm praying that it will continue! So, can I get some reviews? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Chapter 3**

Rayne watched as Loki stood before the humans with a superior look upon his gaunt face, "Kneel before me." When the humans showed no recognition that he had even spoken, his face contorted into an angry snarl.

"I said, kneel!" he yelled, his face tinged with madness. They uncertainly fell to their knees, sharing wide eyed looks between themselves as Rayne watched on, twin samurai swords drawn and ready to slice at the slightest provocation. Her mahogany coloured hair had fallen from its sleek up do during the chaos of the evening leaving her face framed by the wayward strands.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki asked, walking through the kneeling humans like Moses through the Red Sea. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power for identity. You were made to be ruled." He paused dramatically, his face automatically forming that crazy grin whilst Rayne watched on, alert and ready for anything, like her father had taught her. "In the end, you will always kneel."

All was silent until an old man stood amongst the crowd, directly in Loki's sight, "Not to men like you." Rayne had to admit that she begrudgingly respected that one man, even if she wasn't able to physically express it. It took bravery to stand up to a man as maniacal as Loki and not flinch away.

"There are no men like me," Loki sneered, his face still drawn into an expression of amiability despite his hard eyes.

"There are always men like you," the man replied, seemingly undaunted.

Loki's expression froze almost imperceptibly, too slight a movement for the untrained human populace to notice but Rayne saw it all and knew instinctively that only a miracle could save that foolhardy old man.

Loki's face shifted back to its cordial expression in an instant as he smiled at the people condescendingly, "Look to your elder, people." He paused for a moment, his face fluctuating back to one of cruel malice, "Let him be an example."

Rayne watched on impassively as the man's pupils dilated, his breath quickened harshly and his face morphed to show pure fear as Loki raised his sceptre towards him and released a bolt of pure ice blue energy, the exact shade of Rayne's eyes at that moment.

A clank sounded throughout the immediate area as the energy was propelled backwards into Loki, sending him falling to the ground instantly.

Captain America stood up from the epicentre of the impact, smoking slightly. He hefted his shield, calmly walking forwards to face down Loki, "You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Rayne crept forward with all the grace of a dancer, trying not to alert the newcomer of her presence, the Tesseract forcing her to Loki's aid.

"The soldier," Loki spat viciously. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time," Captain America remarked, a Quinjet appearing over his shoulder out of the gloom of the night.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," came a female voice from the jet's speakers, attempting to reason with the almost demonic looking god. This proved to be futile.

A ball of energy was fired at the jet, making the pilot swerve in a desperate effort to stay in the air. It all descended quickly into total anarchy from then as the Captain hurled his shield only for it to bounce straight off the god's chest plate harmlessly. He caught in, simultaneously throwing a punch at the God of Mischief.

Loki's head snapped to the left at the force of the blow and that was when the Tesseract ordered Rayne forwards, internally forcing her to submit and fight the Captain in an effort to protect Loki, her master.

Shield and sceptre clashed spectacularly in a flurry of sparks as the two men fought. When Loki knocked his opponent to the side with a well-placed hit to the stomach, Rayne paused to see if she was really needed to intervene.

When the soldier rolled and regained his footing Rayne began her run forwards once more. He threw his shield again only for Loki to flick it away with his sceptre like a pro baseball player as the soldier ran at him to fight once more.

They exchanged punches, the Captain arching back to avoid a hit to the face before recovering and going back to fighting with Rayne's self-appointed master. She watched on as the world's first superhero was flicked away once more. Loki slammed the butt of his sceptre onto the war veteran's head, "Kneel."

Steve Rodgers strung to his feet grunting out, "Not today!" He spun a high kick to Loki's head with his enhanced super soldier reflexes. The two battled on, oblivious to the running mortals. The Captain go a punch in on Loki and Rayne decided that enough was enough and threw her last resort knife straight at the captain with a practised flick of her wrist and it met its mark with yet another satisfying thunk, embedding into the muscle of his arm. The super soldier let out a sharp his of surprise, his momentary distraction allowing the god to get an advantage as he threw him across the concrete they battled on.

Out of nowhere rock music blared threw the sound system of the Quinjet that hovered above them, startling the two fighting males and Rayne out of their delirium. A blur of red and gold surged onto the scene, shooting off a bolt of yellow light from metal hands. The blast hit Loki dead on as he flew up into the air, sailing into the ground with a crash as the pavement shattered under his more durable form. The blur crashed to the ground, landing in a dramatic crouch allowing onlookers to identify the new figure as the man of metal. One Rayne was familiar with as she'd seen him on the news and her father had mentioned him at times – Iron Man, Tony Stark.

Iron Man got to his feet and approached where Loki sat tense on the stone stairs, various weaponry shifted out of his suit, revealing an impressive arsenal of weapons.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," he announced, solely focussed on his target. Rayne ran forwards to her master with all the loyalty of a retriever and stood tense beside the god. He glanced at her and shook his head slightly and she stood down begrudgingly. Loki began to lower his hands and his golden armoured blinked out of view. "Good move."

Captain America nodded to him, "Mr Stark."

The man of metal cocked his head to the side, "Captain."

Their eyes turned to Rayne where she stood stock still, her muscles tensed as she watched the goings on warily.

"Now, who might you be?" Tony Stark crooned through his suits speakers.

Rayne looked him over instinctively, search for immediate threats, her ice blue eyes disconcerting to any and all watching the proceedings, "None of your business, Stark."

"Ooh, feisty."

Without another sound from anybody the jet lowered and everybody climbed in mechanically. Rayne took one last look at the carnage she had caused or helped cause and her real side shuddered in disgust at the death. She caught sight of the Captain's cut and still bleeding arm and whimpered internally – her emotions reeling from the shock and horror of the night.

000000-000000

"Is he saying anything?" the voice of Fury buzzed through the speakers to Romanoff in the cockpit of the jet.

"Not a word," she paused pursing her red lips in thought. "He's not the only one we picked up."

It was a tense silence for a moment as the line went silent and Agent Natasha Romanoff held her breath.

"Who?" came the Director's gruff response.

"Don't know. Average height – about five foot seven. Brown longish hair, creepy blue eyes. Olive skin. Ringing any bells, sir?" the Black Widow described, her face taut with tension as the situation weighed heavily upon her.

"Just one. It doesn't matter, just get them here. We're low on time." The Director cut the call leaving the redheaded agent to mull over his words in the silence.

"I don't like it," Steve Rodgers mumbled to the son of Howard Stark in a low aside, his pitiful attempt at covert behaviour setting Rayne's teeth on edge.

"What, Rock of Ages and the amateur knife thrower giving up so easily?" Tony mocked, his face serious but his eyes were revelling in the Captain's ignorant behaviour.

Steve looked at him openly, "I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop. And her, she's like a ninja or something."

"Huh… Ninja…" Tony muttered, rolling the words on his tongue, before turning to look at Steve once more in thought, "Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

The Captain's face screwed up in both annoyance and confusion at the modern references, "What?"

"It's like calisthenics," came a clear feminine voice. The two men turned to look at the woman they had picked up with Loki. They watched as her eyes that had momentarily blinked grey before with a wince of pain and a grunt, they blurred back to the icy blue they had first seen.

They paused watching as the woman's behaviour shifted and she turned away from them in something closely resembling disgust.

"You might have missed a couple things doing time as a Capsicle," Tony carried on as though the woman's interruption had never happened despite how much both of the men's thoughts lingered on it.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve said in a vague effort to change the subject away from himself.

Tony's face darkened as he spoke, "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

A surge of thunder in the distance and the sudden turbulence knocked the passengers of the Quinjet off balance and those who were standing stumbled slightly to right themselves.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha asked from her position in the jet's cockpit as she flipped switches, always watching the growing storm that surrounded them.

Steve watched as Loki blanched when the thunder rolled and the lighting cracked, "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?" his voice laced with dark amusement and mocking.

Loki just looked at him with the wide, faux innocent eyes of a child as he remarked with a glance up at the sky, "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

A crash sounded from above them, on the roof of the SHIELD owned jet causing all its occupants, super or otherwise, to stare upwards warily, looking for any threats. The Iron Man slipped his mask on, donning the super suit confidently and in a way that showed he meant business. Captain America followed suit under the watchful eyes of Rayne Wilson, her naturally observant nature getting the better of her and her stare reminded everyone of a predator and it's soon to be prey with her shrewd gaze.

Tony Stark pressed a button on the wall control panel and the plane opened up at the back showing nothing but heavy rain and lightning.

"What are you doing?" Steve demanded but he got no answer. A sudden crash came from the rear of the plane and its occupants watched in shock as Thor, the Norse legend in the flesh swung into the Quinjet and pulled Loki from the seats, seatbelts and all before diving out of the jet, swinging his hammer as he leapt.

"And know there's that guy," the man in the iron suit grumbled in exasperation.

"Another Asgardian?" the Black Widow yelled from the cockpit of the jet, her mind calculating the threat he possessed. Rayne's eyes were locked on the spot her master had just been kidnapped from. Her hands squirmed subtly against her restraints as she worked to free herself and help the God of Mischief and Lies in his plight.

"That guy's a friendly?" Captain America yelled, fighting to be heard over the wind that rushed through the aircraft.

The billionaire spoke up, striding towards the rear opening of the Quinjet with confident strides in his metal boots, "Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve argued, yelling at the ex-playboy.

"I have a plan. Attack." With that he dove out of the plane, using his thrusters in his hands and feet to stop his fall to his death.

As soon as the metal man disappeared Steve grabbed up his shield and ran for the parachutes that every aircraft had to have.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." The famous and deadly assassin advised, piloting the jet calmly in the face of all the paranormal and science fiction related events that had occurred within that fateful ten minute time gap.

"I don't see how I can," he argued with her. The only other people on board silent, this was because of crippling fear in regard to the co-pilot but Rayne was single-mindedly focussed on her task of freeing herself from the handcuffs. Normally it would have been a cinch but the Tesseract was convoluting her sense of self and every instinct she possessed as either a mercenary or human was going haywire. Rayne was shrieking inside, clawing with her self-control to gain freedom from her internal prison.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." She informed him, eyes wide as she tried to get him to back down but, like every other hard headed male on the planet, he barely even stopped to listen.

"There's only one god, ma'am," he argued strapping himself into the parachute. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

The captain took a running leap from the jet just as Rayne Wilson wiggled her hands free from the handcuffs.

She was free.

And she was dangerous.

**Incredibly sorry for the wait but a lot of things came up in my life. Thanks to all those who have favourited, followed or reviewed this story. Your response has kept me writing. So, can I get some reviews? This is my most successful story ever and it's only just beginning! Help keep me motivated and review this!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Chapter 4**

The moment her hands were free of the handcuffs she smirked to herself, the superhuman had leapt from the plane moments previously leaving her free to wreak her own unique brand of havoc. She stood slowly, creeping down the plane in her heels.

With a harsh jerk of her hand the co-pilot was no longer conscious and the Black Widow spun to face her newest challenge, the rogue and compromised Black Ace.

"Surprised, Romanoff?" Rayne smirked sinisterly, her voice a seductive croon magic in the air.

"No," she snapped, her green eyes swinging to and fro wildly searching for an escape.

"Don't lie, Widow. It's very unbecoming of a lady, yes?" The rogue mercenary taunted. "But Agent Barton did mention your lack of feminine charms."

The SHIELD agent growled, jumping to her feet within the blink of an eye and advancing towards Rayne. She swung a punch, hitting her in the ribs causing the Black Ace to wince slightly. She recovered quickly, dropping to the floor and swinging a kick at the legs of Natasha, knocking her to the ground. Before the agent could recover Rayne had retrieved her blades and had slashed the cheek of her adversary, the pride of drawing first blood making her smirk. Natasha could only stare in shock at the blood that seeped from the wound running down her cheek.

Without a thought for safety Rayne jumped out the Quinjet, leaving behind an unconscious co-pilot and a shocked Black Widow, all in a good day's work.

Internally Rayne was panicking and shrieking but when she was caught in the arms of the God of Mischief her internal cries ceased.

"You know what to do?" he questioned with a slight smirk on his thin face.

"Of course, master. I will not fail you." She whispered devoutly.

An enormous clang echoed from the heroes of SHIELD, the forest levelled out in places with smoke rising from the area.

"This will be fun," Loki whispered sadistically, more to himself than Rayne. She only nodded along with his words, fighting all the more on the inside.

000000-000000

"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass, its thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap," came the booming voice of Director Nicolas Fury. "You get how that works? Ant, boot."

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki smirked at the Director, known among the recruits at 'The Fury'.

Fury remained impassive in the face of the god, "Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Loki chuckled, "Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man," he taunted of the Hulk. "How desperate are you that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did," ranted the one eyed man.

Loki's eyes went wide with a stark kind of madness, "Ooh… It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is."

Nick Fury stood stock still regarding the god with scrutiny in his eye before spinning on his heel and walking off, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

000000-000000

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asked absently, pulling his attention from the screens first.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve Rodgers surmised. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

Thor crossed his arms in contemplation, "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Steve's big blue eyes were wide, "An army… from outer space."

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

Thor turned to Dr Banner quickly, "Selvig?"

Bruce felt the need to explain, "He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend," Thor corrected.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," she reminded the men, her wounds from the fight on the jet smarting as the medic took care of them.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. And her, too. He's not leading an army from here," he pointed out.

"I don't think we should be focussing on Loki. What about her? Who is she? Why did she let us take her?" Bruce put forth the questions.

"She's under his control," Natasha spoke severely, her distaste for the captured mercenary evident in her posture and tone. "I don't think we should be focussing on her. It's Loki I'm worried about."

Bruce snorted, "That guy's brain is a bag of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother," Thor spoke evenly, his eyes daring any of the gathered super beings to deny him.

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha reminded coldly.

"He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium… What do they need iridium for?" Bruce asked the room, hoping for any suggestion.

"It's a stabilising agent," called the man of iron before turning back to SHIELD's resident super nanny, whispering some more. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He patted Thor on the arm as one might a golden retriever, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He walked to the centre console of the bridge, "Raise the mizzen mast, jib the topsails." He span towards the right and announced, "That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He paused in contemplation, discretely adding a bug to the panel, "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," was the short reply offered by Maria Hill.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The one major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube," Tony explained with a few flamboyant hand gestures here and there.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" came the suspicious reply of Agent Hill.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asked looking to his fellow Avengers in slight shock and incredulity.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Captain America asked, his mind racing to stay up to speed with the conversation.

That was when the eggheads took over.

"He would have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."

"Unless, Selvig has figured how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect."

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony Stark offered in faux relief.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked looking sufficiently flummoxed.

Tony walked right up to Bruce Banner, "It's good to meet you, Dr Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks."

"We have a new video link, people," came the announcement of one of the underlings on the bridge.

000000-000000

"How are you, Miss Wilson?" Fury asked, his eye showing no hints of his true motives.

"I've been better, Nicolas," she spat, her glazed blue eyes narrowed.

"Now, Rayne –"

"If you have something to say Director, get it over with," she demanded, growing tired of his moments of stalling.

"You are not in control of yourself; it's blindingly obvious to me. Where is the Cube?" he demanded back, his voice hard as steel.

She chuckled, her head falling back onto the wall behind her, where her arms where suspended above her head in shackles, "I shall never tell you, Nicky," she paused, maniacal light shining in her eyes. "Never."

"What about your father, hmm? How does he feel about this, then? Your open murder of people – innocents? What would Daddy say to his Rayne? Oh, wait… Of course," he paused dramatically, his trench coat flaring around him as he moved about her white plastic cell, "He's Deadpool, he doesn't care."

Rayne flinched backwards as if struck, ivy blue bleeding out of her iris' to reveal grey eyes that stared into the Director's soul. She shook and broke out in a sweat, "My father…. may be many things… But he does care!"

Nicolas Fury watched as she froze up entirely, her eyes rolling back into her head, her body spasming and shaking. Suddenly her eyes flew open and Director Fury was disheartened to see the eerie blue glow of her eyes overtake the grey that had been there.

"This body…" she began to croon, "is weak. She worships her father, she lacks the knowledge necessary to survive on her own and will one day become mate to a hawk in her weakness."

The Director disregarded her words as nonsense and pressed on, "Where is the Cube, Rayne? Tell me, or I might be forced to pay your father a visit."

000000-000000

"She's messed up," observed Tony Stark, nodding his head at the screen where Rayne Wilson, complete with glowing blue eyes, was pictured her wrists shackled to the ceiling, her long caramel hair coming undone.

"Astute, Mr Stark," said Maria Hill, her eyes locked on the monitor. "Dr Banner is only here to track the Cube, we were hoping you might join him."

"I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works and awful lot like a HYDRA weapon," Steve suggested, his eyes haunted by memories the others pretended not to see.

Fury strode in, "I don't know about that but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know and the infamous daughter of Deadpool into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor asked in his grumbling voice. "I do not understand."

"I do," Steve exclaimed, his face falling when all eyes on the bridge turned on him. "I understood that reference."

Tony turned to Bruce with a devilish smile on his face, "Shall we play, Doctor?"

Bruce returned the smirk with enthusiasm in his kind, brown eyes, "This way, sir."

The others watched the pair go with a chuckle caught in their throats at the unlikely pairing of the Hulk and Iron Man.

Director Nicolas Fury turned to his second in command Maria Hill, "Have people on standby, I want my labs intact by the time they leave this ship."

Maria allowed herself a smirk of her own, "As you wish, Director."

**Done! Finally! I rewrote this so many times but I'm kind of happy with it now. I will be trying to pick back up with my writing of this and updates should be more regular now. My other story **_**The Artist**_** is complete as I rushed it through to finish so I could work on this. Then I was issued a Harry Potter challenge and all of a sudden I was a writing maniac! I wrote three thousand words for the first draft of the first chapter in one sitting! It was great! That kick-started my writing again and now I'm juggling this story, life and my (hopefully) upcoming Harry Potter fic called **_**Snakes and Souls**_**.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Merry Christmas! For me, it will officially be Christmas in about… an hour and a half.**

**Sorry for the wait! **

**Chapter 5**

Rayne was terrified. She'd had a brief moment of freedom when the 'Director' had spoken to her. But, since then, it seemed as though her restraints had gotten even tighter making her break to freedom in her own mind much more of a challenge.

Her father's mention in conversation had given her the emotional and mental strength to overcome the Tesseract's hold on her mind but it had only been temporary. Whatever happened, she would overcome the mind control. She had to.

000000-000000

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process."

Tony pondered this for a moment before fiddling with a dial on one of the various monitors in the Helicarrier lab, "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops."

Bruce chuckled and shook his head, "All I packed was a toothbrush."

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R and D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land," said Tony with a smirk.

"Thanks," Bruce offered, "But the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem."

"Well, I promise a stress free environment," Tony announced. "No tension, no surprises."

"Ow!" Bruce cried, turning to Tony with a scathing look as the billionaire retracted the miniature cattle prod.

"Hey!" Steve yelled, striding into the lab with purpose, having seen the antics of Tony Stark.

"Nothing?" Tony asked, peering into Bruce's bespectacled face.

"Are you nuts?" Steve tried again.

Tony turned to him, "Jury's out." He looked to Bruce with something akin to childlike glee in his eyes," You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve argued.

"Funny things are," was all Tony said in reply.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve paused, considering his words, "No offense, Doc."

"It's alright, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," Bruce offered with an uneasy, self-depreciating smile.

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut," suggested Tony, heading to another lab monitor.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark," was all Steve said, looking every bit like an admonishing parent.

"Do you think I'm not?" Tony demanded. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? Why is he so obsessed with the Rayne girl, hmm? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

Steve looked puzzled, "You think Fury's hiding something?"

Tony grumbled to himself incredulously, "He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony pointed at Bruce Banner, "It's bugging him, too. Isn't it?"

Bruce floundered, "Uh… I just want to finish my work here, and-"

"Doctor?" Steve implored.

Bruce pulled his glasses off, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

"I heard it," Steve acknowledged.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," Bruce explained with a nod to Tony. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly…" Steve paused at Tony's dark look, "building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype," Tony said with a shrug before turning to Steve and explaining, "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at, "Why didn't SHIELD

Bruce crossed his arms, looking at the other men in the room, "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Tony tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files. I'd also like to get a look at the profiles of Rayne…" he trailed off looking expectantly at Bruce.

"Wilson. She's Rayne Wilson," Bruce said.

"I'm sorry, did you say…" Steve asked slowly, trying to see if what he'd heard was actually true or not.

"Jarvis has been running since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." Tony said with his ever present smirk. "Blueberry?"

Steve fixed him with a look, "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around."

Tony scoffed at the first superhero, "An intelligence organisation that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think he's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them," Steve ordered seriously.

Tony scoffed once again, "Following's not really my style."

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve asked the billionaire, a stony glare on his face.

"Of all the people in this room which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and, B, not of use?" Tony demanded with a sneer.

"Steve," implored Bruce, "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

"Just find the Cube."

The two geniuses watched as Captain America strode out of the room before Tony spoke, "That's the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us. He managed to take out both Agent Barton and Erik Selvig. He also got Miss Wilson, and Fury said she was hell to fight before," Bruce explained, "She took out half a dozen agents last time they tried."

Tony scoffed at SHIELD, "Looks like their agents are going downhill if they couldn't capture one girl. I mean, seriously." He sobered up from his laughing, "What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit. It's going to blow up in his face. And I'm going to be there when it does."

Bruce chuckled once, "Yeah, I'll read all about it."

"Or, you'll be suiting up with the rest of us," Tony said with a gleam in his brown eyes.

Bruce looked up from the screen he was stood by, "You see, I don't get a suit of armour. I'm exposed. Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

Tony wandered around a bit, aimlessly fiddling with some instruments on the nearest bench, "I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it," he said with a tap to his own arc reactor. "This little circle of light, it's part of me now, not just armour. It's a terrible privilege."

Bruce stared at Tony for a moment longer, "But you can control it."

"Because I learned how," Tony remarked.

"It's different," was all Bruce Banner said.

Tony walked up to the screen Bruce was working at, "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

Bruce looked him in the eye, "So, you're saying that the Hulk… The Other Guy saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment," he agreed with a meek nod. "Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out," was all Tony Stark said.

"You may not enjoy that."

"And you just might."

000000-000000

Steve crept along to the storage room door. He tried to pry it out of the doorway before giving up and forcing it open with a quiet groan. He strode into the room, his footsteps echoing. The room was filled with stacks and rows of storage containers of all sizes. Captain America leapt to an upper floor and opened a container, revealing equipment he recognised. HYDRA weapons in particular. Steve Rodgers was fuming mad, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark had been right.

000000-000000

"As soon as Loki took the doctor, we moved Jane Foster," Coulson explained. "They've got an excellent observatory in TromsØ. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Thor acknowledged. "It's no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

Coulson smiled slightly, "He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

Thor sighed, meeting Coulson's eyes after a moment, "They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced but we come here battling like bilgesnipe."

Coulson stopped, "Like what?"

"Bilgesnipe. You know, huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?" Thor asked in, what seemed to be, genuine confusion.

"I don't think so," Phil Coulson assured the asgardian.

"Well, they are repulsive. And they trample everything in their path, " Thor explained, "When I first came to Earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now, again. In my youth I courted war."

"War hasn't started yet," Fury reminded, "You think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

Thor's blue eyes grew cold, "I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield. It's not just power he craves, it's vengeance, upon me. There's no pain would prise his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that until the pain starts."

Thor turned to face the Director of SHIELD head on, "What are you asking me to do?"

Fury stared down at him, "I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?"

"Loki is a prisoner," Thor stated, "As is that mortal woman, Rayne."

"Then why do I feel like they are the only people on this boat that want to be here?" is all Director Nicolas fury said before storming away with his cape-like trench coat billowing around him.

000000-000000

He watched the building for a day before deciding to move forwards. His last mission had finished up quicker than he'd planned for so he had free time on his hands. A luxury he was not accustomed to. So he'd decided to visit her, the woman who would always be a little girl to him, asking how to correctly hold a sword and when they'd get to go on a mission together again. He missed that little girl but the woman who took her place was someone he could be proud of. Someone he was proud of.

He entered the dreary apartment building with a smile on his face. The elevator was once again broken so he took the stairs up to the third floor and knocked at the door. He waited. He waited some more. When no answer came, he checked the hall for other people before, deciding he was the only one around and dropping to the floor. He rifled in his rucksack for a second before pulling out what he had been searching for - his lock picking set. Within seconds he had the door open and was walking into the apartment she lived in whilst not 'working'. It wasn't much, minimalist and simple throughout with a monochromatic colour scheme in every room. His girl wasn't much for bright colours.

He immediately knew something was not right, weapons were strewn about, signs of a scuffle could be seen near the doorway and the sword display on the wall was disturbed. He went through the house, systematically checking and correcting everything lest she get in trouble should the wrong person stumble across her apartment.

That was when he found a picture, resting on her bedside, it was her, smiling and laughing. In the picture, his arm was wrapped around her as he grinned at the camera. Engraved on the frame were the words, 'My Daddy'. Those two words made his heart both sing and sink as he stared at their happy faces. He loved her, his daughter but he hated that she was in danger. It wasn't like her to disappear without a trace. Normally there were clues for him to find her should she be forced to leave in a hurry. Now, there was nothing. He would get his daughter back, he swore it.

**Done! Another chapter in the bag. This one is a treat for you all as it's Christmas. Hope you all enjoy the holiday and be safe! **

**Just want to know, how far do you all want me to take this? To the end of the Avengers movie? Further? Even further? I want to know you're opinion my brilliant readers so let me know in a review! This is my most successful story and I'm not about to end it in a hurry! Next chapter will probably be the Helicarrier fight scene thing, just so you all know. **

**One more question, because, I'm honestly curious, who do you think the mysterious person at the end was? I hope you guess right as it's a hint to what I hope will happen after the Avengers movie part of this story!**

**Love you all and… Merry Christmas! An hour and a half to go for me! Yay!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**AN: Happy New Year! Hope you all enjoyed Christmas or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate! The response to this story is amazing with so many of you reviewing for me! This is my most successful story ever! Please let this carry on!**

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT SCENE THIS IS! SO THERE IS A VIOLENCE WARNING, NOTHING MAJORLY GRAPHIC BUT THERE WILL BE SOME MENTIONS OF WOUNDS AND FIGHTING. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT.**

**Chapter 6**

"What are you doing, Mr Stark?"

Tony turned to face the so eloquently named Director Fury with a harsh look in his eyes, "Kind of been wondering the same thing about you."

Fury growled out his approximation of a sigh before carrying on angrily, "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

Bruce pitched in, glaring at the Director of SHIELD with a malicious gleam in his eyes, "We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

The self-proclaimed genius, Tony Stark messed with some monitors in front of him, determined to annoy the already pissed off Director even more, "Yeah, then you get your Cube back." He paused slightly, "No muss, no fuss." There was a millisecond of silence before Tony Stark asked, "What is 'Phase2'?"

Steve Rogers stormed into the room dropping a weapon onto the metal lab table with a serious glint in his baby blue eyes, "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons." The all-American hero turned to look at the geniuses in the lab with a slightly sheepish shrug, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

Fury held his hands up in a show of innocence, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making-"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony cut in with a defiant stare, flipping the monitor he was working at to show the room, "What were you lying?" On the screen were the schematics and plans for a missile of some form as well as dozens of other weaponry. The room was silent for a moment as the three alleged heroes stared down the Director.

"I was wrong, Director," Steve spoke up coldly, "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha entered the room to face the accusing stares of the masterminds and Captain America, "Did you know about this?" was all Bruce asked, crossing his arms defensively.

Natasha did not answer his question and instead asked coolly, "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

Bruce laughed a self-depreciating chuckle, "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you," she warned him snidely.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" the Doctor questioned with a sarcastic sneer.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," she remarked defiantly, here ego still bruised from her fight with Rayne Wilson.

"Yes and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," Bruce dared her to defy him. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury growled in frustration before pointing to Thor like a spoilt child "Because of him."

The blonde god blinked slowly before pointing to himself in confusion, "Me?"

Fury sighed once more, "Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town." Fury carried on no matter how bruising it was for his ego, "We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

Thor was beyond confused by the man's explanations, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Director Fury asked with a condescending voice. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve asked rhetorically, being largely ignored by the people in the room.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," the thunder god defended. "IT is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve asked again, once more being ignored.

"You forced are hand," Nick Fury argued. "We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent?" snorted the Stark heir. "Because that always calms everything right down."

Fury stared Tony down with his one eye, "Remind me how you made your fortune, Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve began before being cut off by the man himself.

"Hold on," Tony intervened walking up to Steve Rogers with a faint sneer on his face. "How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry," Steve said sarcastically, "Isn't everything?"

"I though humans were more evolved than this," Thor commented with near disdain.

"Excuse me," Fury all but yelled, getting in the god's face, "Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"You treat your champions with such mistrust," Thor Odinson remarked with a shake of his head.

"Are you boys really that naïve?" the Black Widow argued. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked incredulously.

Natasha Romanoff replied factually, "We all are."

"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asked, riling Steve up. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

"Stark," Steve growled. "So help me God, if you make one more wisecrack-"

"Threat!" Tony announced, pointing to Steve. "Verbal threat. I feel threatened!"

"Show some respect," the super soldier growled out.

"Respect what?"

000000-000000

The voice came over the intercom of the rogue Quinjet as the Helicarrier came into sight, "Transport Six-Six-Bravo, please confirm codes. I've got you on the computer, but not on the day log," the woman asked. "What is your haul? Over."

The pilot spoke into his headset calmly, "Arms and ammunition. Over."

The men in the back of the plane were suiting up, grabbing weapons and gear, readying their selves for the battle they knew for sure was going to happen.

Clint Barton stared down at the SHIELD ship with derision, preparing himself and his bow for the opening shot.

He had his orders. He would follow them.

000000-000000

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor mocked.

"That's his MO, isn't it?" Bruce asked the team. "I mean, what are we? A team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos." He followed with, "We're a time bomb." And everyone in that room then knew he was right.

"You need to step away," Fury ordered Doctor Banner, a miniscule amount of fear showing in his eyes.

"Tony stepped in, hoping to frustrate the infamous Director Fury, "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

"You know damn well why," Steve yelled at the billionaire. "Back off!"

Tony's face was centimetres away from Steve's as they stared each other down, "I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve snorted derisively, "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"

Tony didn't even look at the Captain when he answered as slowly and sarcastically as he could manage, "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He missed the looks Thor and Natasha shared of rolled eyes and exasperated shrugs.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve argued again, "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire," the billionaire answered easily, deliberately trying to infuriate the Captain.

Steve scoffed at him, "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

A hero? What, like you?" Tony asked sarcastically before going in for the kill. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

000000-000000

Hawkeye pulled back the string after notching his arrow and with perfect aim, he shot. The arrow got caught in the wind as intended and swerved into the metalwork of the Helicarrier, attaching to the wall securely. They were ready. Hawkeye examined the Helicarrier blueprints that had been lifted from their system before identifying the room he knew she would be in. That was his first target.

000000-000000

"Put on the suit," Steve said. "Let's go a few rounds."

Thor snorted and laughed condescendingly at the mortals in the room, "You people are so petty and tiny."

Bruce's sarcastic remark of, "Yeah, this is a team," went unheard amongst the loud arguing of his supposed teammates.

"Agent Romanoff, will you escort Doctor Banner back to his-" Fury was cut off abruptly by the angry Doctor Banner.

"Where? You rented my room," he argued back.

Fury tried to placate him "The cell was just in case-"

"In case you need to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried," Bruce spat quickly before succumbing to the questioning and concerned faces around the room. Though, whether they were concerned for him or about him, Bruce did not know. "I got low. I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out. So, I moved on. I focussed on helping people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk." Bruce continued, his voice growing mocking and sardonic. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

It was silent for a moment before Steve spoke up, "Doctor Banner, put down the sceptre."

The silence continued on oppressively before a machine in the corner of the room beeped and Bruce put the sceptre back onto the lab table, moving towards the machine, "Got it. Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

Thor eagerly asked, "You located the Tesseract?"

"I could get there fastest," Tony argued instantly.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it," Thor grumbled back.

"You're not going alone!" Steve cried.

"You going to stop me?" Tony smirked, getting in Steve's face again.

"Put on the suit," Captain America threatened. "Let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony insulted.

"Put on the suit."

"Oh, my God," Bruce whispered in shock as he looked at the screen.

That was when a blast shook the Helicarrier.

"Put on the suit."

"Yeah."

000000-000000

She felt the room shake and heard a blast but nothing fazed her. She felt so cold. So lifeless. She was slumped against the wall, the shackles pulling against her wrists, cutting into her. He eyes were a hard blue as though they had frozen over and she stared at the blank white wall in front of her uncomprehendingly.

Suddenly her sight faded away and she watched as images overtook her brain, flashes of different things – an ugly, reptilian creature sneering at her. Fights and battles flashed through her mind, she remembered it all. The blood, the violence, the pain. Then flashes of her father, his pained face, looking through one of her apartments in Asia. Next images of Clint Barton, smashing his head into a railing, the Black Widow always watching. Then the strong arms of a man appeared in her mind, wrapping round her protectively, clinging to her in pain, holding her close. She saw nothing else of this man, only his arms. That was when her sight returned to her and she saw the monotonous walls of her cell once more. It was silent in her cell for what felt like eons but Rayne knew it had been mere minutes.

A click sounded from the door to her cell but Rayne made no move to see who had entered nor did she care what they wanted. No one would get anything from her. She was determined. Footsteps sounded from the door way but she still refused to look over at the doorway, despite her growing inner curiosity. The Tesseract's hold on her was too strong.

Strong fingers lifted her chin up and her lank black waves of hair fell away from her face to reveal sallow looking olive toned skin, her own expressionless blue eyes stared into his identical pair and for a moment their eyes flashed back to their normal colours – grey and brown. Then the Tesseract's influence began to bleed back in, ruining to two humans' moment of resistance and freedom.

"Miss Wilson," Clint acknowledged, moving to undo her restraints from where they were fixed into the wall. Within minutes she was free, she stretched her hands and fingers, working out the cramps SHIELD's imprisonment had caused.

"Come on," Agent Barton ordered and she followed him blindly, they were on the same side after all. He led her into a supply room, giving her a SHIELD uniform and then he gifted her daggers that had been taken from her. When she looked at him expectantly, he gave her the harness and sheaths for her two swords. She twirled her blades, slicing into the metal wall like a hot knife through butter. She felt right with her swords.

"Ready?" he asked her, a brown streak appearing in his eyes before fading back to icy blue.

"Ready," she agreed, the Tesseract forcing her into its plan, the pulsing in her minds growing stronger.

"Don't get yourself killed, Wilson."

With that, the hawk was gone from her sight.

Rayne crept around the corner, hearing the voices of some other agents she laid in wait, crouched the floor, one sword drawn and ready. As soon as the SHIELD rookies stepped into her line of sight, they were goners. She leapt into the air. Slicing through flesh and muscle with finesse as she jumped off the walls leaving the befuddled soldiers to feel her wrath. All four were dead in less than two minutes and Rayne stood back up on her feet and carried on round the corner. Voices could be heard from her left and she crept along slowly, making no noise at all save for the breaths that left her chapped lips.

The Agent barely felt a thing before their eyes rolled back into their head and they crumpled to the ground in a heap, making no sound as they died. She carried on in this fashion, dispatching dozens of agents easily as they crossed her path. Then she heard the roar of the Hulk to her left and immediately began working to get away from that side of the Helicarrier. She refused to be crushed, not today.

000000-000000

"Does anyone copy?" Fury asked into his intercom. "The Black Ace has escaped. I repeat. The Black Ace has escaped. Does anyone copy?"

"It's is I, Thor," the God of Thunder announced having picked up the speaking device from a fallen agent. "Where is this black creature?"

Fury sighed before replying hurriedly, "She is in the lower levels. Find her. Stop her."

Before Thor could asked anymore questions the line was cut and the blond rushed off to the stairway, hoping he could find the creature and stop its tyranny.

000000-000000

Rayne terminated five more agents in less than three minutes and she jogged along the now vacant corridor quickly, keeping her senses open for any potential incoming hostiles. She had barely reached the end of the corridor before with a war cry something smashed into her side, sending her flying through the wall into one of the cargo areas below. She landed on the concrete with a cry of pain and gasped as pain rocketed through her mind, momentarily dislodging the Tesseract's influence pulsing away in her mind. But the pulse clung tight to her brain and stayed, stopping her eyes from completing their change back to a stormy grey.

Thor jumped to his feet, facing his foe with pent up rage in his eyes, "What is your business?"

Rayne spat at him, regaining her footing and unsheathing her swords immediately, "My business is my own, Asgardian." She paused in her movements, abnormal blue eyes locking on natural blue, "Loki says hi."

Thor snarled, charging the woman with the intention on punching her all the way to the end of the universe and back, she span away from him, swinging the swords and cutting into his chest slightly. The workers in the cargo bay had long since run from the room in fear of the prowess of the legendary Black Ace and her opponent, the alien from Asgard. He rushed her again, landing a hit on her sending her flying into the crates stacked up around the runways. Thor let her have no respite, flinging her into the side of a docked Quinjet. She rolled to slow the momentum and spun to her feet, ready to fight the Asgardian in front of her.

She planted her feet preparing for his charge and was not surprised when he ran at her with a pole he had looted from one of the now damaged boxes, creating a makeshift spear. The metal clashed with a resounding clang as the two fought each other strenuously. They held nothing back as the weapons clashed once more and they battled again.

The pole screeched as it was mangled by her swords and sent skittering across the bay's floor. Taking advantage of Thor's shock she caught his face with her sword, slicing into his cheek. He grunted in pain before wrestling her to the ground and punching her solidly in the head, thoroughly dislodging the Tesseract's pulsing in her mind and freeing her. She gasped, convulsing and sweating as her mind warped and she fought of the Tesseract's attempts to re-enter her consciousness. She screamed in pain, blood running from her nose as tears fell down her cheeks. Thor leant away watching as her pupils dilated rapidly, the whites of her eyes standing out in harsh relief as the unnatural blue of her eyes brawled with the incoming grey that was seeing through. Her screams were getting louder and Thor cringed away from the mortal woman, in part to escape her screaming and in part because he was certain he had disposed of her sufficiently.

She continued to writhe on the concrete floor, jaw set tight as her muscles convulsed and contorted in agony. She pulled herself into a ball, her hands firmly fixed into her hair as she struggled with her mind. With a gasp she succumbed to unconsciousness even as she continued to thrash in distress at the torment she was undergoing.

**Well, phew! That is the longest chapter I have ever written, I promise. Now, if I get to… 35 reviews I will do a monster chapter for you all next, we're talking... over three thousand words again. Does that sound good or what?**

**To those that want me to go past the Avengers movie that is already a done deal, I will be doing that for definite. I'm thinking of continuing this story all under the Swords and Arrows heading so no readers get lost. What do you think?**

**For those that thought the last person in the previous chapter was Deadpool, well… you were right. He will be brought more into the story after the Avengers movie bit is over. **

**There will be more Clint/OC action but at the moment they are still – kind of – fighting mind control so cut them some slack. They can't just randomly fall in love and have 2.5 children a picket fence house in the suburbs. He is an agent who has had a traumatic life; he isn't going to trust easily.**

**For those who wondered, I'm not sure if Loki will be making a reappearance beyond the Avengers movie bit, would you like him to? If the answer is yes, or you have any ideas for this story, then PM or review me! The end is still up in the air and it can change if you want it to. How do you feel about me – maybe – bringing in some more of Rayne's family? You know Mum, Gramps?**

**Did you like the way this chapter was written? I didn't think the violence was too extreme or anything but if you think otherwise, let me know. If you think the rating needs to be upped at any point then let me know that too.**

**Well, sorry for the long author's notes but I felt like that all needed to be said. Happy New Years! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**AN: Brilliant! Less than 24 hours is all it took you guys to boost my total reviews to 35! I am beyond impressed! So, here is your long chapter I promised, it came in at 4,165 words.**

**As I write this there are 45 favourites and 78 follows with 38 reviews. Keep this up!**

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT SCENE THIS IS NOW! SO THERE IS A VIOLENCE WARNING, NOTHING MAJORLY GRAPHIC BUT THERE WILL BE SOME MENTIONS OF WOUNDS AND FIGHTING. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT.**

**Chapter 7**

"Sorry, boss," Agent Phil Coulson breathed out. "The god rabbited." Blood stained his mouth as he hazily looked up into the eyes of his boss, Nick Fury.

"Just stay awake," he ordered a touch of fondness in his tone. "Eyes on me," he ordered when Coulson's head began to tilt sideways.

"No," he shook his head, "I'm clocking out here."

"Not an option," was all Nick Fury could say.

"It's okay, boss," Phil whispered. "This was never going to work if they didn't have something to…" His breathing stopped and his eyes lost their life. Nick Fury stepped back as the medical team rushed in.

000000-000000

In SHIELD, every agent was listening as Fury spoke into his headset, "Agent Coulson is down."

A collective intake of breath was drawn within the Helicarrier as everyone from custodial staff to senior agents waited to hear about the resident super nanny of SHIELD.

"A medical team is on its way to your location."

"They're here. They called it."

000000-000000

The bridge was vacant in the aftermath of the attack on the Helicarrier; only three men were in there – Captain America, Iron Man and Director Nicolas Fury.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury said, holding up a handful of blood stained trading cards. "Guess he never did get you to sign them," he added, throwing the cards onto the table. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the Tesseract, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you." There was an aura of defeat in the Director's voice that the two heroes did not like. They did not trust it. "I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. But I never put all my ships on that number, though because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative." Silence followed Fury's words as he strolled purposefully about the glass table that took up a large portion of the platform in the bridge. "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

It was mute for a heartbeat of time before Tony Stark wrench himself upright, striding out of the door leaving the last two occupants of the room shrouded in silence.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion," Fury acknowledged, keeping an eye on Steve Roger, Captain America who stood from his chair and left the room in search of Iron Man.

000000-000000

"Clint," Natasha called. "You're going to be all right."

Clint grunted, twisting his hands in the restraints of the hospital bed, his body rigid, tendons standing out on his arms, "You know that?" He gasped out, "Is that what you know?" He lay back, staring dazedly up at the ceiling as Natasha stood beside his face, "I've got no window. I have to flush him out."

"You've got to level out," she corrected him, "It's going to take time."

"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in?" He paused before whispering brokenly, "Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"

"You know that I do," Natasha replied, tears shining in her eyes. "She does too."

Clint turned to look at where she was pointing and saw the adjoining medical room with the similarly restrained patient in the bed, gripping her bindings tightly, fear alight in her grey smoky eyes.

"Rayne?" he asked Natasha sparing her a look before returning his gaze to the mercenary he couldn't help but be enthralled by.

"Yeah. She was brought in earlier by a rookie agent," Natasha snorted slightly shaking her head, "The kid had no idea she was the Black Ace."

"Why am I back?" Clint asked suddenly. "How did you get him out?"

"Cognitive recalibration," she explained, sitting on the edge of his bed, "I hit you really hard on the head."

"Thanks," was all he said to her. When she leaned over and began opening his restraints he couldn't help but look at her like she was crazy, "Natasha…" She silenced him with a look and finished what she was doing. "How many agents did I…"

"Don't." She looked at him seriously, "Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki." She reminded him, "This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."

"Loki, did he get away?" Clint asked her suddenly.

"Yeah. I don't suppose you know where."

"I didn't need to know," Clint told her, slinging his legs over the edge of the bed before standing, "I didn't ask." He poured a drink to occupy his still slightly shaky hands, "He's going to make his play soon, though. Today."

"We got to stop him," Natasha said determinedly.

"Yeah?" he asked arching a brow at her, "Who's 'we'?"

"I don't know. Whoever's left," she lifted her hands slightly, a little at a loss for what to do.

"Well, if I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket I would sleep better, I suppose," Clint agreed.

The sound of footsteps made him look up to see Rayne walking through the door, her tanned skin pale, her black waves of hair mussed up, her grey eyes stormy, "And I'd feel better with his head mounted on my wall."

"How did you get free?" Natasha asked sternly, her voice betraying nothing.

"Thor punched me in the face." When both assassins raised their eyebrows she added, "Oh, you meant out of the straps? Whoever brought me in didn't check for my personal arsenal, I had a knife up my sleeve and I just sliced them open."

"Feeling better?" Natasha asked her, no emotion in her voice.

"Definitely," she added with a roll of her shoulders. She paused looking depressed, "I'm so sorry for what happened on the plane. I wasn't in control at all."

"It's fine. Just don't let it happen again," Natasha replied, a small smile on her face.

"You're a spy, not a soldier," Clint told Natasha. "Now you want to wade into a war. Why?"

"What did Loki do to you?" Rayne asked, feeling concern for the one who called herself Black Widow.

"He didn't. I just…"

"Natasha," Clint and Rayne said together, looking over the spy carefully.

"I've been compromised," she whispered. "I got red in my ledger. I would like to wipe it out."

000000-000000

"Was he married?" Steve asked, staring down the metal shaft that had claimed Thor less than two hours previously.

"No," Tony began. "There was a cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry," Steve whispered just loud enough for Tony to hear, "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot," Tony corrected with a scoff, walking away from the steel trap that had taken Thor.

"Why? For believing?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised in scepticism as he walked closer to the genius.

"For taking on Loki alone," Tony spat.

Steve tried to be the voice of reason and reminded Tony, "He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league," Tony said with anger in his voice. "He should have waited. He should have-" He cut himself off.

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," Steve tried to console him as the Stark walked closer to him.

"Right, I've heard that before," Tony said with a disdainful snort walking past Captain America.

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"

Tony spun to look at Steve, his eyes glossy with tears he would never let fall, "We are not soldiers. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve retorted. "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now," he stated calmly, "We got to put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-"

The billionaire cut him off, staring at the blood marked wall behind the captain, "He made it personal."

That's not the point," Steve said with a dismissive shake of his head.

"This is the point," Tony told him, a dangerous glint in his brown eyes. "That's Loki's point. He hit us all where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," Steve replied, going along with the child of Howard Stark.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win right? That's what he wants." Tony kept pacing, "He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it." Tony paused before saying with conviction, "He wants an audience."

"Right," Steve nodded, "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah, that was just previews. This is opening night," Tony enthused, "And Loki; he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he want parades." Tony carried on still reeling with thought, "He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered- Son of a bitch."

000000-000000

"Time to go," Steve said, knocking on the door of the medical room where Natasha was sitting on the hospital bed.

"Go where?" the redhead asked, looking at the captain curiously.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Captain America asked gesturing vaguely in the direction of the hangar.

"I can," Clint said stepping out of the bathroom calmly.

Rayne walked in from the adjoining room and Steve tensed slightly before noting her grey eyes and calm face, "I want in."

Steve looked both of Loki's former minions over, before nodding, "You got suits?"

The both nodded in the affirmative. Steve smiled faintly, "Then suit up."

Rayne nodded heading to the other room and the black duffle bag that had been found with her belongings. She pulled out her clothes, checking to make sure she wasn't about to expose herself to others before slipping out of the SHIELD issued jumpsuit that all agents were given and putting on her suit. It was a smoky grey suit that fit her like a second skin, enabling movement and letting her look badass at the same time, or that's how her father described it. Next went on her black leather boots that she loaded with a gun and knives of all sizes and lengths. Her fingerless gloves went next with the built in knuckledusters and the straps for knives that she filled with an efficiency borne from years of training and mission both with her father and solo. She put on the harness and then sheathed her swords in there making sure she could reach them at all times. Next went on her belt with the various daggers and extendable swords she owned. She was armed to the teeth and knew she wouldn't let anyone get the jump on her ever again. Finally, she brushed out her mane of black curls and tied her hair into a high ponytail and slid her half-face black mask on.

She was ready.

She followed the two SHIELD assassins and Captain America to a hangar where they walked straight into the open Quinjet like it was nothing. She stood with crossed arms crossed staring down the mechanic in the jet.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorised to be in here."

Captain America looked down at him with a taut jaw and steel in his blue eyes, "Son, just don't."

They followed Iron Man out of the hangar and into the air, heading for New York and the Stark Industries building.

Steve and Rayne sat in the back of the Quinjet as the two assassins flew with speed and precision after the Iron Man, "You're the Black Ace, right?

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Your superhero name? You know, like Hawkeye, Iron Man? I was told you were the Black Ace. Is that not true?"

"Nope," she said popping the 'p'. "I don't really have a name, I suppose."

"No guns?"

Rayne looked up at Captain America curiously as he noted the amount of blades and swords on her person, "One."

Steve could not see a single gun and when he raised an eyebrow she gestured to her black leather boots, "In my boot, it's only for emergencies."

"What?" he asked, trying to get to know the woman who was on his team.

She looked at him openly, a surprise to him considering how guarded people were in the twenty first century, "My father once told me that a gun is so impersonal whereas a blade speaks of character and that a man – or woman, who can block a bullet with a blade is someone who is truly worthy of fear."

"Your father sounds like a wise man," Steve complimented her, knowing that, from what Fury said, the man was a psychopath.

Her eyes were hard as she stared him down, "I wouldn't listen to everything Fury spouts about my father, Mr Rogers. He is a great man and an even better father but Fury has always had it out for him. Judging by the fact that the frequency of attacks has increased phenomenally since my birth, it is a fair statement to say that he has it out for me, too."

She didn't say a word for the rest of the flight, watching the miles fly by at speeds that would have scared a lesser woman. It was good that Rayne Wilson was not a lesser woman.

000000-000000

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony said walking into the penthouse of his tower.

Loki laughed manically, "You should have left your armour on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny," Tony said with a gesture to the sceptre Loki was clasping in his hand. "Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything," Loki told him.

"No, no." Tony walked around the bar, sliding metal sensors around his wrists, "Threatening. No drink. Are you sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that." Loki paused spreading his arms in pompous manner, "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony said calmly as he made himself a drink of unknown alcohol content. At Loki's confused look he continued, "That's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes'- type thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki said with a snide laugh.

"Yeah. It takes us a while to get any traction; I'll give you that one. Let's do a headcount, here. Your brother, the demigod, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breath-taking anger management issues, a sword wielding mercenary who is one badass bitch, a couple of master assassins and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan," Loki said with a smirk.

Tony shook his head saying, "Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

Loki remained unperturbed, "I have an army."

Tony walked around the bar saying spitefully, "We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wondered off," Loki said amusedly.

"You're missing the point," Tony said having reached the end of his proverbial tether. "There is no throne. There is not version of this where you come out on top. Maybe you're army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth you, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Throughout his monologue Tony had been walking closer to Loki until they were nearly nose to nose.

"How will your friends have time for me when they are so busy fighting you?" as he said those words Loki lifted his now glowing sceptre and tapped it to Tony's chest with a clink, furrowing his brown as the charge blue energy fizzled out. "This usually works."

Tony smirked, "Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five-"

Tony was picked up by the throat and thrown across the room before he could finish his sentence, "Jarvis, anytime now," he groaned.

Loki picked up Tony once again by his throat, "You will all fall before me."

"Deploy! Deploy!" Tony cried before being thrown out of his penthouse window. As he plummeted to the busy street below, a crash echoed above and the Mark Seven suit went flying out of the window, locking onto the sensory cuffs he wore and moulding to his body. He flew up seconds before hitting the ground and hovered outside of his broken window staring down the God of Mischief and Lies, "And there's one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil."

000000-000000

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast."

"What?" came Tony's voice through the speakers of the Quinjet. "Did you stop for drive-through? Swing up Park. I'm going to lay them out for you."

Rayne felt the jet bank a corner before the kick of gun fire could be felt in the back of the jet. She felt the movements of the jet swerving around buildings before Hawkeye and the Black Widow's conversation caught her attention, "Nat?" she heard Clint ask.

"I see him," the Russian whispered just loud enough for Rayne to hear before the kick of fire could be felt again. Suddenly a blue glow flashed along the left of the jet and they began to lose altitude quickly.

Rayne leapt to her feet with Captain America, holding the bars on the ceiling to keep from being tossed around in the turbulence of the jet. As soon as they had landed they were out and running up the street.

"We've got to get back up there," Steve called over to his team.

They stopped suddenly looking into the sky where Loki's portal was and the whole of New York watched as a space whale seemed to swim through the sky into the air above the city.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked after recovering his mental faculties.

"Seeing. Still working on believing." Tony suddenly asked, "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asked.

"Just keep me posted."

The Avengers dove behind a couple of overturned taxis to dodge incoming fire from the alien hostiles, Clint felt the need to point out, "We've got civilians still trapped up here."

"Loki!" Rayne gasped pointing to the sky as the god bombed the streets causing explosions as the car's combusted.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve said more to himself than anyone else.

"We got this," Natasha assured him. "It's good."

"Go, Cap," Rayne told him, her grey eyes serious.

"Do you think you can hold them off?" Steve asked turning to Clint, resisting the urge to smile as the archer shot a Chitauri in the chest before the same arrow fired off bullets into the others around it, "It would be my genuine pleasure."

Rayne reacted on instinct, flicking her wrist and withdrawing one of her knives before sending it sailing over the shoulder of Captain America and into the forehead of the alien behind him.

"Captain," Rayne called to him, "We got this! Go!"

With a nod the legend ran to assist the New Yorkers as the y scrambled in the face of the alien invasion. Rayne took a deep breath before facing her enemy. She could do this. She knew it. Natasha shot a round of bullets into the encroaching hostiles whilst Rayne punched in the window of the nearby school bus, assisting Clint in the civilian rescue.

Once Clint had them free Rayne span on her heel impaling an unlucky Chitauri with her blades as she fought to defend New York.

"Just like Budapest all over again," Natasha called to Clint, not taking her eyes from the enemies.

Clint shot another alien dead on target, "You and I remember Budapest very differently."

Rayne chuckled before going back to slicing her way through the aliens that thought it wise to surround her – the infamous mercenary. They were in over their heads.

She spun, twisting in the air to intercept the Chitauri attack on the young mother that was fighting to escape her apartment building. Not on her watch.

With a war cry she tackled the alien, growling at it in return when it thought to spit and hiss at her. She kicked it solidly in the gut causing pain to shoot up her ankle. It grunted before landing a hit on her shoulder. She flicked her wrist withdrawing a dagger and sending the blade deep into the gut of the alien. They creature shrieked out a cry in its garbled language before Rayne say it's eyes roll into the back of its head and it finally gave up. She calmed her racing pulse before heaving and trying to slide out from under the now dead Chitauri only to find herself stuck.

Clint had briefly caught Rayne's stunt and wasn't sure whether to be impressed or annoyed at her behaviour. He spared a glance to her finding her incapacitated under an alien. Without a thought for his own safety he left the Black Widow's side and ran to see his possibly fallen comrade. His heart leapt slightly in his chest when he realised that Rayne Wilson was not going to be taken out that easily – she was a fighter.

"Need some help?" he asked smugly.

"Yes, get this corpse off me!" Rayne yelled back, pissed at him and the stupid alien she was caught under.

Clint shrugged, "You'll owe me," before shoving the body of the Chitauri off of her and freeing his fellow Avenger, helping her up quickly. Rayne mumbled her thanks before shoving him to the side as she caught the blast that had been aimed for his unprotected back on the side of her sword.

"Now, we're even."

She stomped off, slicing into an approaching hostile with ease and Clint took a moment to grin softly to himself before leaping straight back into the fight, thoughts of Rayne Wilson and the warm feeling in his chest, disappearing.

Captain America jumped into the fray once more with a vengeance as all four of them worked to kill any and all aliens they could see. She spun her swords quickly creating an impenetrable shield in front of her face – her father's signature move. The blue energy pulses from the Chitauri glanced off of it hitting the surrounding buildings and the other aliens rather than her. She looked around her, finding herself with an alien on both sides as well as in front of her. The one in front let out an animalistic chuckle before firing a pulse of blue. The pulse collided with the edge of her sword as she spun it once, splitting into three separate pulses each hitting their mark around her.

She smiled before joining her teammates as Thor crashed to the ground haphazardly, sending lightning into the aliens directly below him.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked seriously, readjusting his shield.

Thor looked at him for a moment before answering, "The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable."

Tony's voice came through over their headsets, "Thor's right. We've got to deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked, her eyes on the Chitauri still ravaging the city."

"As a team," Captain America told them, watching as the Black Ace re-joined the group, a hint of bruising on her face.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor told them gravely.

"Yeah?" Clint asked, his eyes hard whilst he fixed the arrows he had managed to scrounge back up. "Well, get in line."

"I want his head as a table topper," Rayne added, stepping forward into the god's face, remembering him to have been the one to hit her in the face hard enough to dislodge the Tesseract.

"Save it," Steve ordered them, "Loki's going to keep this fighting focussed on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to-"

Steve was cut off as the sound of a grumbling engine signalled behind him someone's arrival. He turned to face a sheepish Bruce Banner riding an old motorbike.

The team approached him, Rayne's face scrutinising as she looked him over before meeting his eyes when he spoke, "So, this all seems horrible."

"I've seen worse," was all Natasha said, looking at him with fear in her blue eyes.

"Sorry," Bruce apologised.

"No," she disagreed at the same time as Rayne spoke up, "We could use a little worse."

"Stark, we got him," Steve told Tony via the communicator.

"Banner?" he asked.

"Just like you said."

All Iron Man said was, "Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

**Ta Da! That's the end of that chapter! How awesome, right? The next one shouldn't be too long but I didn't think this one would take all week either. I hope to have it out quickly but RL is a pain. **

**Can I get to… 45 reviews and more…. Is that too much to ask?**

**By the way, the responses below are with the newest first. I responded to every review I got for the last chapter.**

**In response to **_**ladygris: **__I know his eyes are grey-blue but I wanted a proper noticeable difference between the icy, Tesseract blue and his natural colour and I think brown eyes would look cool on him. There are also some little hints of Clint/Rayne in this one. Hope you enjoy!_

**To **_**IsobelFrances:**__You flatter me! I can't believe that! Thank you so much! Enjoy this chapter._

**To **_**LadySyndra: **__Here is the much awaited update, glad you like my story. Hope your New Year was good, too._

**To the anonymous **_**Valkyrie: **__I love the name 'Valkyrie'! and thanks for the compliments on Rayne, it means a lot. Enjoy the chapter…_

**To the anonymous **_**Guest: **__Thanks! Enjoy the update!_

**To **_**666AnimeFan666: **__I'm happy you like my story! Here's an update!_

**To **_**miller330: **__The compliment means a lot! Thanks for the comments; sorry this chapter took so long!_

**To the anonymous **_**Kat: **__Your reviews mean a lot. Thanks for the suggestions, I love the help. I will definitely consider your opinion as I like the idea of having Deadpool bring in Rayne's mom to help with the search. Here's the promised update!_

**To **_**Ashes2Dust18: **__Thanks for the review contribution, you helped make this 4,000 + word chapter possible._

**To **_**Bunnies are Vicious: **__Here is the update! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT SCENE THIS IS NOW! SO THERE IS A VIOLENCE WARNING, NOTHING MAJORLY GRAPHIC BUT THERE WILL BE SOME MENTIONS OF WOUNDS AND FIGHTING. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT.**

**By the way… there is some romance in this chapter, as hard to believe as it is, enjoy! I hope you like it. There is a lot more original content in these chapters as interactions now won't mess with the movie canon at all. Hope you like my Clint/Rayne romance! It's my first time writing stuff like that so I need your critique.**

**At the moment this story is the longest and most successful so far with 50 reviews, 49 favourites and 82 follows. How great!**

**Chapter 8**

All Iron Man said was, "Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

The team looked up to see Iron Man fly around a building and head straight for them, it was only a second after that a space whale flew around after him, chomping it's mechanical jaws in anger. The Avengers readied themselves, stringing bows, loading guns and drawing swords.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha drawled, her eyes fixed on the Chitauri's pet.

"Me either," Rayne agreed not even daring to look at her teammate.

Bruce looked at them all once more before turning away and walking towards the fast approaching beast. Steve called out in concern, "Dr Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

The part time rage monster fixed him with a smirk, "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." The transformation from docile scientist to Hulk took seconds and was a majestic show of power Rayne and the team couldn't help but be awed by. The Other Guy sunk a punch into the nose of the creature, stopping it's momentum with his own strength as the tail whipped up. The mechanical armour folded back as the thing flexed.

"Hold on," Tony commanded firing a singular explosive into the fleshy underside of monster. It exploded in a ball of fire, Rayne being pulled out of the damage zone by Clint's arm around her waist. She blushed in spite of herself, pushing away from him with a nod of thanks. The Chitauri on the buildings roared in anger, the Hulk replying as the Avengers grouped together, looking out at them all with a defiant gleam in their eyes.

"Guys," Rayne called, her grey eyes firmly fixed upon the space whales that swam through the portal above them as well as another dozen Chitauri on their approximation of flying saucers.

"Call it, Captain," Tony told them.

"All right, listen up," Steve called to them, grasping his shield more confidently. "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash. Wilson, I want you three blocks east of here where they are converging. Shred them all. "

Barton turned to Tony, "Can you give me a lift?"

"Right," Stark agreed, watching as the Black Ace stepped over to them.

"Barton," she called drawing nearer. "You be careful, after all, I owe you one. And I don't like to leave my debts hanging."

Clint felt a warm rush in his chest at her words and smiled at her before he was plucked from the ground by none other than Tony Stark, "You better clench up, Legolas." As soon as they were in the air, Tony looked down at the archer for a moment, "She has so got the hots for you."

"Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up," Captain America told the demigod, watching for a moment as he took off before he fixed his eyes on the woman beside him, "You and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk…" The green giant turned to stare at the super soldier, "Smash."

The Hulk smiled before readying to leap to the buildings but was stopped by a touch to his leg, he raised his hand to swat it away but was stopped, "Hulk!" Rayne called up to him with a grin at what her father would do if he knew what she was thinking.

The green giant looked down at her in vague annoyance at stopping his smashing. She smiled up at him again, "Think you could give me a lift, big guy?"

The Hulk grunted and smiled down at her, pulling her into his arms before throwing himself at the nearest building and climbing to the rooftops. He carried her to the designated location and then threw her down into the fray at her urging, struggling to fight the childlike grin that wanted to spread itself across his green face when he saw the battle prowess of the Black Ace and her ferocity in combat. With a growl of approval he threw himself into his own fight, smashing his way through the creature from outer space.

The Black Ace was savage in her attacks on the Chitauri, slicing through them with no thought to her own well-being save a single-minded determinedness to kick ass and live to tell the tale and brag to her father who, for all his extensive and impressive fighting achievements, had never fought against aliens brought to Earth using magic in a war to save their planet. No, that was an achievement Rayne was looking forward to claiming herself. She flung daggers at breakneck speed, slicing through the incoming monsters with ease and a finesse rarely seen outside of dance recitals.

Clint watched from his rooftop as more and more Chitauri changed direction and began heading away from the Captain and Natasha towards the east where Clint knew Rayne Wilson happened to be.

"Guy, we have a problem," he called through his communicator.

"What?" Steve asked feeling a sinking feeling in his gut. "They seem to be easing off here."

The archer growled at them in exasperation and anger, "That's because their all heading east to Rayne!"

"What?" Steve asked.

"You heard me. Can anyone get to her to help?" Clint asked feeling his heart squeeze in his chest and his breathing quicken at the thought of the battalion amassing to kill the girl with the stormy eyes – the Black Ace._ His_ Black Ace.

"No," Natasha told him with all seriousness as she kicked in the head of an unfortunate alien warrior.

"Fine," Clint rumbled at them, "I'm on it." Barton turned to survey his surroundings, breathing out a sigh of relief when he spotted a familiar green giant, "Hulk! Hulk! Come 'ere, boy!"

The Hulk turned and caught sight of the archer his inner voice told him to be Clint and he bounded across the street to where Clint was stationed with a roar.

"Hulk, I need you to get me to Rayne," Clint told him with a stern face. The jolly green giant looked up at the sky with a puzzled expression on his face, absently smashing a Chitauri with his fist. "No!" Clint yelled, drawing the attention back to himself, "Get me to Rayne! The Avenger!" when the Hulk was still puzzled he added, "The one with the swords!"

The Hulk smiled his own version of an excited grin before grabbing hold of Clint and soaring off o the building and into the fight, knocking down aliens in his way as he took his 'friend' to the girl with the shiny, sharp sticks of death.

Clint's heart felt like it would stop as he saw the amount of Chitauri she was fight at once, she had two daggers left that he could see and both of her swords were locked in death defying combat. Her face was cut slightly and her mask wasn't even on her face anymore having probably been discarded long ago and her hair was a mane of black curls with the hair tie long gone. There had to have been at least fifty enemies on that street alone and Clint felt like crying for some reason unbeknownst to him as he watched her stumble when one alien got a hit in and just like that she was swallowed by the hoard of monsters.

The Hulk immediately began batting the snarling aliens off of his friend whilst Clint shot arrows at the writhing aliens. He watched with desolate eyes as the form of Rayne wasn't revealed no matter how hard he and the Hulk fought to find her under the bulk of Chitauri. To their credit they never gave up, nor did the intensity of their attacks waver but both were losing hope that the woman they called friend and comrade could be alive. Clint watched with wide eyes as a knife went flying out of the hoard, threw the helmet and skull of an alien and straight through a lamppost with blinding speed. The lamppost was sliced in two and half of the monsters from space were taken down by the human creation. With a grin Clint watched as a sword sliced through the aliens in the centre of the fight and the corpses flew away from the epicentre of the wave of destruction and Rayne was revealed standing tall, bruised and battered but her head was held high and she sliced down every monster in her path with unrestrained power and might. In that moment she truly looked like the warrior Clint knew her to be and he would be lying if he said it didn't scare him just a bit with her standing there looking like a goddess of war and bloodshed.

"Having fun, boys?" she crowed at them with victory written across her face.

"'Course we are," Clint said with a chuckle, not even blinking as he shot an alien without looking.

"Good," she whispered, stepping into him and looking up into his natural brown eyes with her own grey ones swirling with some hidden emotion Clint couldn't decipher. "Are you okay?"

Clint leaned away from her slightly as if to see her better, "I think a better question would be: Are you okay?" he lifted his hands to smooth back her hair and cup her cheeks.

"I'm fine, Clint," she told him, her eyes gleaming, the sounds of the distant fighting being lulled into white noise to her ears. Without a word she leant forward, closing the gap between them and kissing him once softly before pulling away to look at him uncertainly. Clint never said a word either before leaning in once more and locking their lips together in a heated kiss, adrenaline and fear still running high. Rayne felt euphoria as their tongues locked and fought for dominance, her hands finding his short hair and weaving into it. His hands raked her back, feeling her waist before winding into her hair, feeling the black curls trail through his coarse fingertips. They pulled away to gasp for breath and saw the Hulk crouched right next to them, watching their private moment with a knowing look in his eyes that the two humans recognised from their brief times seeing Doctor Banner. The big lug chuckled roughly as he nudged Clint before straightening and throwing himself back into the fight, taking to the buildings to defend the people.

"We got caught," he told her quietly not wanting to disturb the quiet of the moment.

Rayne chuckled a little breathlessly and Clint tried to stop his male pride from rearing its head. She smiled, "What's worse is that it was the Hulk who caught us."

Clint couldn't help but chuckle back, feeling lightheaded in that moment with Rayne, his chest fluttering and having her so close. She knocked him down suddenly, landing on his chest and protecting him from the lone Chitauri that thought it wise to challenge them. She threw her last dagger with incredible accuracy, sinking it into the chest of the alien that had tried to kill Clint – _her_ Clint.

She looked down at him and saw his wide eyes staring up at her in gratitude because he owed her his life. She leant down to look into his eyes with a small smile on her lightly tanned face, "You owe me," she whispered grazing his ear with her lips.

"How can I repay you?" he asked intrigued as her breath touched his neck.

She pulled back to look into his eyes and smiled happily, "Once this craziness is over, you can take me on a date."

Clint felt her absence as she jumped up after pressing a soft kiss to his lips and ran into battle again leaving him lying on the cracked tarmac of street in New York, pretty sure he was losing his mind in letting her so close but shrugging off any and all discomfort because if a girl that looked and acted like Rayne Wilson wanted to get close to him, who was he to argue against that?

Rayne was giddy as she went back to the fight, slicing into the aliens like nobody's business and chuckling slightly when she saw Clint only just getting up to fight again, feeling her ego swell slightly at having knocked the infamous Hawkeye so off kilter he required two minutes recovery time after their kisses. She leaned back suddenly, dodging the blue pulses aimed at her head, forcing herself to think and get her head into the game. She still wanted the bragging rights over her father who, as old as he was, still acted like a child at times and wounding his ego was something she always took delight in whenever she could.

With a grunt she took the blow to her shoulder, feeling her muscles protest before she swung around in anger beheading the Chitauri that had dared hurt her. It was safe to say that if she wasn't pissed off before, she most definitely was now. She spun, carving up any alien close enough, taking pleasure in the fact that she was avenging those who had already been killed or hurt. It also felt like justice for herself. And, for Clint if she admitted it. Loki controlled and abused them; he violated her and stole her free will. That was why she took it out on his army; the things that were supposed to win him the Earth were meeting their deaths by her hand. It felt like just a little bit of justice and compensation on her part. Maybe she was just sadistic. But, she preferred to think of it as avenging herself and the soldiers she was made to kill. So, with every slice and injury she dealt the aliens, Rayne felt just that little bit lighter in her soul.

Suddenly Natasha's voice crackled over the communicator, "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" Steve ordered, feeling relief flood through him.

"No, wait." Tony ordered.

"Stark, these things are still coming," Steve told him, panicking slightly.

"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute," Tony told them.

Rayne muttered a curse as she sliced down another Chitauri, her eyes searching the skies for Tony and his ostentatious suit.

"And I know just where to put it," Tony told them softly, his voice focussed.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Steve informed him solemnly.

"Save the rest for the turn, J."

Rayne watched the trail of the thrusters as Tony rushed into the edge of the city, carrying a nuke, "Tony," she whispered to him, despite the fact that she hadn't known him very long; once you fight an alien invasion with someone you are friends for life. "Come back alive. Bruce would be lost without his science bro."

"No worries, Slash," was all Tony said before he disappeared in the portal. Rayne and the rest of the Avengers watched anxiously for some sign of the billionaire when suddenly every Chitauri dropped to the ground dead.

"Close it," Steve ordered quietly and Rayne breathed out a sigh of sadness at the loss of Tony Stark, one single tear falling down her face.

She looked back up to the skies and saw the portal close and disappear leaving the form of the Iron Man suit falling to the Earth.

"Yes!" she cried into the headset, grinning happily.

"He is not slowing down," Thor muttered to himself, just audible over the headset to Rayne.

"Tony!" she yelled into the communicator, her eyes locked on the genius.

Swiftly a green blur smashed into Tony's falling form and Rayne watched as the Hulk slowed their fall before disappearing out of her view behind some buildings. She ran through the streets, jumping fallen monsters before finally coming across Steve, Thor and Bruce huddled around Tony's still form. She knelt next to him, touching his forehead concernedly. The Hulk roared his disapproval and Tony jolted awake, his arc reactor flitting back to life in his suit.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me," Tony hurried out with wide eyes before seeing Rayne knelt beside him, "Well, except you, you know? Because you're hot but- I mean… Legolas would kill me."

Steve breathed out, "We won."

"All right, yay!" Tony said dazedly, "Hurray. Good job, guys... And girls. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"Sounds good, Stark," Rayne told him with a laugh, "That sounds good."

Thor interrupted their laughter by saying, "We are not finished yet."

"And then shawarma after," Tony told them determinedly.

They climbed into the Stark Tower elevator after meeting up with Natasha and Clint and saw Loki pulling himself out of the flooring with muffled groans, he turned to face them with defeated eyes, looking straight into the tip of a sword and an arrow, "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

000000-000000

Clint stepped forward and slyly took Rayne's hand, smiling when she turned to look at him, a secretive smirk on her face. The two watched as Loki was led into the centre with a muzzle on his face and a glint of embarrassment in his eyes. They just held hands and watched Loki's embarrassment, taking sadistic glee in his discomfort.

"Feeling better?" she whispered to him, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"'Course I am. They finally muzzled the nut job," he told her happily.

Rayne grinned at him, before turning back to watch Loki get sent home with his brother as an escort to receive punishment Asgardian style.

With a twist of the Tesseract's casing Loki and Thor were lit up by blue fire that Rayne couldn't help but flinch at the sight of, before they were sent into the cosmos.

"Well, beam me up, Scotty," she said with a chuckle, drawing a laugh form Clint, Bruce and Tony. She smiled at the men who took pleasure from her sarcastic sense of humour.

Steve pulled Clint to the side and shook his hand, looking him in the eyes seriously, "When you have something special, never let it go."

"I don't plan to, Cap," Clint told him quietly, sparing Rayne a glance. He walked back to her knowing that she was definitely something special, what was going on between them wasn't clearly defined in terms of normal relationships because… they weren't normal, they were Avengers but they couldn't wait to see where they could go together, as a couple.

After seeing off the Captain, Rayne went to say goodbye to Bruce and Tony.

"So, jealous?" Bruce asked her with a smirk, nodding to Natasha and Clint, talking off to the side.

Rayne shook her head, "No. She has her eye on our very own blonde Capsicle."

"Really?" Tony asked sceptically, smiling at the girl in front of him.

"Of course. Would I lie to you?" she asked him seriously before a smile crept onto her face.

"Well, you are a mercenary," he told her with a chuckle.

She chook her head at him, "Ex." When he raised a brow in question she added, "I'm an Avenger."

"Good on ya," Tony said, pulling her into a sudden hug before she was passed on to Bruce, "Remember, you are welcome to stay in the tower… whenever you want. I even got a room for the Hawk and you to share."

"I'll hold you to that," she said before sauntering back over to Clint, "Where to?"

He looked off to the side in thought before turning back to her with a smile, "I'm just going to drive, see where it takes me." He looked at her considering, "What about you? Any long lost lovers to reunite with?"

Rayne laughed at him, seeing the jealousy burning in his eyes though Clint would never admit to it, "No, I'm off to find Daddy."

"Ah… The legendary Deadpool, when does he meet Tony?" Clint asked teasingly, knowing of the billionaire's slight hero worship for the Merc with the Mouth.

"Never, if I have my way. God, can you imagine the carnage?" she asked with a grin. Clint smirked happily at the thought of the playboy getting diced by Rayne's daddy.

"Where will you meet him?" Clint asked her after their laughter died down.

"I'm not," she explained. When Clint looked at her in question she continued, "I have to find him. Daddy never reveals his location."

Clint nodded, leaning over for a kiss before hopping into his car and starting the engine, "See you soon?"

"Of course," she whispered looking into his eyes through the open window. She pulled away with a smirk, "You owe me dinner, after all."

Clint smiled and waved at Rayne before he slammed his foot down on the accelerator and jetted out after Tony, laughing all the way.

Rayne watched them go before hopping into her gift from Tony Stark, a smoky grey corvette that she knew cost a pretty penny - she'd googled it.

She put her phone to her ear and dialled the number of her father's last known residence, a man's voice came through the speakers, "I'm sorry, I'm not able to answer the phone right now…" She hung up with a sigh knowing how difficult her father was going to make it for her to find him because she had the audacity to get kidnapped by Loki. All she knew was that when she did find him, he was going to give her a lecture so long, her ears would ring.

**Whoa… That is the last chapter of the Avengers portion, hope you have enjoyed it my readers! What did you think of the romance? The action? The end of the chapter? Let me know! Can I get to at least 65+ reviews this time? You guys posted 12 last time so this shouldn't be too difficult. If you do, I'll… do something really special, if you want and you can help choose it via a poll on my profile.**

**To **_**choirbandgeek: **__Thanks! I'm happy you like this story! I agree about Deadpool, he always seemed misunderstood and begging for more story._

**To **_**Guest(s): **__Thanks for reading, all three of you! Here is the new chapter you've been wanting, let me know what you think. Maybe choose different names to sign with though so I can respond to you individually._

**To **_**Kat: **__Here is that update you were asking for, so happy you're still reading this, and I do try to make this interesting for you all to read. In regards to Rayne's mom… you will have to wait and see on that front… But, as a hint, how does Grandpa Fury sound? Or, is that a bad idea?_

**To **_**Lady Syndra: **__Here is that update you wanted! Glad you like the story._

**To **_**Kurisetina: **__Deadpool will be popping up soon; I just wanted to wait until the end of the Avengers movie part of this story. Hope you liked this chapter!_

**To **_**miller330: **__Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad this isn't a let-down for you! Here is a lot more Rayne/Clint interaction, I hope it isn't too OOC… But, Clint isn't really seen much in the movie so I think I'm using artistic license here._

**To **_** .Uchiha: **__I'm thrilled that you are so into this fanfiction, I hope I don't ruin it for you… Please, feel free to be a fan girl about this; I'm glad Rayne is getting such love from Avengers fans._

**To **_**Guest: **__More of our favourite badass bitch kicking ass in this chapter. I'm so happy you liked her costume; I was worried it might be a bit over the top. Thanks for the compliments on my writing. That just boosted my ego!_

**To **_**Someone: **__You write reviews just fine! I always worry about that too. Most writers will just be glad to have 'someone' (not intended pun), to take the time out of their day to review their work. Sorry about the lack of romance in the last chapter, hopefully this one will make up for it. In regards to who would play Rayne in the movie, I never really thought about it… The person you suggested is perfectly okay I think, except with black curls and grey eyes._


	9. Chapter 9

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**This is when the post-Avengers bit starts… I'm very nervous, what do you think of it?**

**Just so people know, Clint and Rayne aren't going to be instantly in love like they seemed to be last chapter, it will slow down as the adrenaline from battle wears off and they have enough time to freak out about it… Hehehe, I'm evil.**

**Chapter 9**

Rayne looked up at the clerk with doe-like eyes and a sweet smile, inwardly laughing at his lustful gaze. The man was practically salivating! She giggled like a little girl, and leant over the desk towards him, making sure he got a good view down her shirt. She smiled as he handed her the key and PO Box before leaving her in the room. She opened it carefully, checking for any hints of tampering and found a black glossy container with a thumb print scanner inside. She placed her thumb on the pad, watching as it scanned her biometrics before buzzing red and denying her access. She growled trying again with the same thing happening. Trust her father to make things difficult for her…

She pulled her kit out of her purse and cracked open the thumbprint scanner, rolling her eyes when she recognised her father's additions to the boxes security and how the second she opened the thumb scanner pad it triggered a timer for thirty seconds which linked to a tiny micro bomb that she had designed when she was twelve under her father's supervision. Rayne worked quickly, disabling the bomb and disabling the biometrics with ease in less than twenty seconds as her father had trained her to.

The box opened a crack and Rayne pulled it the rest of the way open and smiled at her father's familiar penmanship on the tearing of paper, _'If you are who I want you to be, then you are in big trouble. If you aren't who I want you to be, then you aren't as dumb as I would have assumed you to be but you still won't work this out.' _Rayne smiled, knowing that her father was a child at heart. She checked the box over carefully for any hidden compartments before slicing open the lining with her pen knife and finding a coin. She inspected it closer and read the date, 1984 – the year she was born. The rest of the box was empty so Rayne pocketed the note and coin before sealing the box and giving it back to the clerk when he walked back in, "Everything satisfactory, Miss?"

"Very," was all she said back, freezing when he put a hand on her arm. She reached into the pocket of her jean skirt and pressed a button on the scrambler inside. She spun on her heel and decked the leering clerk around the face sending him crashing to the ground. She towered over him as he stared up at her in a daze, "Next time don't touch me." With a final kick to his head, Rayne Wilson left the building leaving behind an unconscious clerk who awoke hours later with a hazy recollection of event s that provided no light on the goings on of office four and when the security cameras were checked it was revealed that all of them had gone offline three hours previously.

Rayne sat in her car and pulled out the note, rereading it carefully before she stuffed it back in her bag and drove out of the parking lot, her wheels squealing.

000000-000000

When Rayne got home she pulled out the note from her father once more, flattening it out against her desk carefully. She read over the words, trying to decipher a hidden meaning before pulling out her magnifying glass, searching for any details her human eyesight could have missed.

'_If you are who I want you to be, then you are in big trouble. If you aren't who I want you to be, then you aren't as dumb as I would have assumed you to be but you still won't work this out.'_

The words were written in standard black ink with nothing immediately screaming at her about her father's location. That was when she got a good look at what it was written on and realised it was a page from a book, _The Magician's Nephew_ was printed on the back of the scrap of paper and, even though she knew it was futile she packed all of her belongings and left her apartment, her newly repaired suit on underneath her clothes.

She drove straight to the Wilson Manor, a personal favourite of her fathers as the house was fully ready for battle at all times with a panic room her father had built because of "the zombie apocalypse because, Rayne… there will be one and we will all die. Well, I won't because of this handy dandy panic room. But, remember, Wilson's never panic."

She dashed inside the library, barely remembering to grab her bag from the corvette's passenger seat. She ran straight to the child's section of the library and pulled out C. S. Lewis' _The Magician's Nephew _eagerly, she sat down at the old antique desk and opened it to find the title page torn out with the number one hundred and three scrawled on the shreds left attached. She flipped through to the right page and found the chapter entitled The Fight at the Lamppost. Next to the chapter heading was her father's scrawled writing: _'Rayne, you'll find me in the house you were conceived in."_

She scrunched her face up in disgust, throwing it into the fire place moodily. Of course, she knew exactly what house her father was referring to, it was his favourite and he'd told her the story of her conception more times than she could probably count.

"Typical," she whispered into the silence of the library, "the other Avengers are off living it up whilst I'm on my way to the middle of nowhere, North Carolina."

She wandered upstairs, stopping in her father's room to grab some weapons considering her stock was rather depleted in the battle of New York. She cracked open the safe, loading a canvas bag full to the hilt and just as she was about to shut the door, a book caught her eye. It was old and leather-bound. She pulled it out carefully, untying the worn ribbon and pulling it open.

The first page showed half a dozen images of a man with shaggy brown hair and a pair of aviators on his face with a smile so wide it looked like it hurt. His face looked similar to Rayne; there was something in the set of his jaw that reminded her of her father, Wade Wilson. The next page had a her dad's name written in elegant cursive along with another picture of a tree with the initials W.W and J.F written in characteristic sword slashes. Rayne slammed the book shut and threw it back in the safe before re-locking it and running out the door and heading for North Carolina.

The drive was long but Rayne endured, her mind flitting to thoughts of Clint occasionally and on a highway in Georgia, she had a breakdown.

Rayne pulled up on the hard shoulder of the road in the middle of the night with wide eyes, "Oh, dear God," she mumbled.

A crash on the rear of the car sent her breathing racing and her heart fluttering as she struggled to get her mind in order. She took a deep breath and looked to her passenger seat and jumped at the figure that had suddenly materialised there, "Oh, dear God, is right baby girl."

She put a hand to her chest in an effort to still her furious pulse, "You scared the life out of me, Daddy."

The man in the passenger seat just chuckled, "That's my job, darlin', and you'd be upset if I didn't."

"You wouldn't be my daddy if you didn't," she retorted, undoing her seatbelt and leaning over to hug her father tightly.

"Damn right," he murmured, stroking her crazy black curls nostalgically, "You got your mama's curls."

At his words Rayne froze slightly and looked up at him with tumultuous grey eyes, "You never talk about her."

"This ain't no time to be questioning me about my love life, Ray," he told her teasingly, "Let's talk about yours!"

Rayne lifted an eyebrow, pulling back onto the road with a snort, "How about… no."

"Come on!" he goaded her, knowing his daughter would eventually rise to meet his challenge head on because that was what Wilson women did.

"Sure, and maybe we can braid each other's hair," she offered sarcastically.

"Turn left up ahead, I got a safe house up here."

Rayne raised an eyebrow at him in question, chuckling when he shifted guiltily, like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't play that game with me," she told him. "You know what."

"Fine," he told her with over exaggerated exasperation, "I won it in Vegas playing poker with Fred," he admitted.

"See?" she told him smugly, pulling into the driveway of the cabin, "Isn't honesty the best policy?"

"Nope," he said popping the p. "Telling half-lies is the best policy."

"You know, Dad, if I ever give you grandbabies, they are so screwed."

He looked at his daughter with surprise written in his eyes for all to see before a mask of mischief descended on his face, "That's sudden… Does it have anything to do with the boy I saw you kissing?"

"What?" she asked him with wide eyes.

"The boy," Wade said. "You know the one… The hawk? The Avenger?"

"Clint?" she asked, her voice raising several octaves higher.

"So, that's his name…" her father said with a cunning smirk as he followed her into the living room of the cabin, watching with barely concealed glee as she fiddled with the TV.

Finally a news channel popped up on screen and Rayne shushed her father and watched with rapt attention. _"It has been less than two days since the aliens attacked New York and as of yet there is no word from the Avengers, not even billionaire Tony Stark has commented yet on the extraordinary heroics of the people who saved New York. To those of you who may not know, the group consists of Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor and three currently unnamed heroes. As of yet there are no names for the three heroes. If anybody has details on the heroes I, personally, ask you to come forward." _

She flipped to another channel and watched as shot after shot of the Avengers was shown; some of the aliens but the worst was the blurry clip of Rayne laying a kiss on Clint after he saved her life, _"Is there a new superhero couple? There haven't been any widely reported romances between heroes since the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman-"_

The channel changed again, _"Maybe we'll get some answer at the press conference and charity gala Friday night? Who knows, maybe we'll learn the identities on the last three Avengers?"_

Rayne growled, shutting off the TV with a flick of the remote, her dad sidled up and sat down next to her, "See, baby girl?"

"Fine," she conceded grudgingly.

"Now, who is this boy?" he asked, leaning forward to look her in the eyes seriously.

Rayne sighed, giving in to the interrogation, "His name is Clint Barton and he's an Avenger." When she paused, her father just nodded for her to go on, "His name is Hawkeye."

"And?" Wade asked almost giddily, his eyes forcing her to carry on.

"And he saved my life, so I kissed him."

"Ah… Logical."

"Shut up," she said hitting her father with a couch cushion. "He helped me, so I kissed him. End of story."

"Do you regret it?" her dad asked her, gently for once considering his usually abrasive personality.

She took a moment to think, "No, but he might…"

"Baby girl," Wade said looking his daughter in the eye, "I don't care about this Hawkeye, but I do care about you. As long as you don't regret it, then it was the right thing to do." When Rayne looked like she was about to protest, he held his hand up, "Rayne Wilson, this life of ours is short, as is his, I suspect." Rayne tried to ignore the mumbled threat on Clint's life as her father continued talking, "We haven't got time to second guess ourselves or go for second chances. We live life in the fast lane and if you slow down or try to turn back, you'll be made road kill."

"So…" Rayne raised a brow, "you approve?"

Her dad pulled a face but nodded, "I guess you could say that. Never let anything or anyone stop you from going out there and getting what you want. If that's this guy, then hats off to you. Who am I to stop my daughter from getting what she wants?"

"I guess," Rayne agreed.

The elder Wilson opened his arms for her, "Give us a hug, Rayne."

She willingly allowed him to wrap his arms around her when suddenly she was on her ass a foot away from her father who smirked down at her in challenge, "That was for making me worry. I actually think I might have a grey hair because of you, kid."

"Dad!"

He lifted his eyebrow in challenge, "Think you can beat your old man, kid?"

She smirked up at her father, reaching for her swords, "I know I can."

**Sorry for the incredible wait! But, to be fair, I was ill, then it was my birthday, then it snowed! Oh and I wrote a really long beginning to a Harry Potter fic called **_**Snakes and Souls**_**, if anyone is interested. So, give me some reviews people! Currently there is 62 reviews, 56 favourites and 92 follows!**

**To **_**miller330: **__Thank you! As you can see Rayne and Clint don't just fall into each other's arms! Rayne has a little freak out but it's nothing that some TLC from Daddy Deadpool won't fix. _

**To **_**Kat (anon): **__Yep, you have the right idea, or, that's what I'm thinking at the moment._

**To **_**Lady Syndra: **__As you can see Dad came to the rescue!_

**To **_**Another person (anon): **__Hope you enjoy Deadpool!_

**To **_**Ama'da Rose: **__Hope you like this!_

**To **_**Kuro Neko to Kuro Bara: **__I try to update regularly but occasionally RL gets busy or I get side tracked._

**To **_**Missy : **__Thank you for the compliment! There will be more Clint/Rayne soon!_

**To **_**IsobelFrances: **__ Sorry for the wait! Hope you like the chapter!_

**To **_** .Uchiha: **__Thanks, here's an update!_

**To **_**Redrideing: **__Thanks, I'm trying to keep it original, hope you like this boring chapter._

**To **_** .byrnexx: **__Thanks!_

**To **_**Valkyrie: **__Deadpool is one of my favourites, too! Sorry for the wait!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**I apologise for the wait and how incredibly long this took but my real life has been so chaotic I have not really had time.**

**Chapter 10**

Tony smiled as his eyes roved the screen picking up the six dots of the people he cared about. One that caught his eye was Rayne's. Hers had stopped on a little used highway about an hour previously and had yet to move again. He briefly entertained the idea that she had been hurt but scoffed out loud, drawing the attention of the reclusive scientist known as Bruce Banner to him.

"What?" Bruce asked suspiciously, his brows raised warily.

"Nothing." The billionaire spun to face is friend, "So, Jolly Green… you looking forward to the gala thing Friday?" The rage monster's eyes went wide as he tried to stammer out an excuse, "You know Pep, she'll kill me if you don't go."

"Tony, I don't think this is a good-" Bruce was cut off by Tony's errant wave.

"Save it, Banner. You're going." He turned to look at the screen again. "Should I go offer the lovely Black Ace an escort here?"

"What?" Bruce spluttered out, looking over Tony's shoulder at the glowing console where Rayne's picture was highlighted grinning up at him. "You've been tracking her. You've been tracking everyone."

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Just because?"

"Yep."

000000-000000

Rayne chuckled, leaning over to grab more popcorn out of the bowl. She looked up at her father and grinned at his easy going attitude and the way he still through popcorn at the TV like a teenager. Wade caught her eye, "What's got you thinking so hard, baby girl?"

Rayne shook it off, "Nothing, I'm just-"

A beep from her father's watch had both of the Wilson's looking at each other in silent communication. Without a word they ran to their respective bags, suited up and armed themselves to the teeth.

The father and daughter duo locked eyes, "How'd you want to do this, Dad?"

"It's one hostile incoming at a rate of around a hundred and twenty miles an hour," he nodded decisively, his face serious with all traces of childish youth gone, "ETA: two minutes."

"Right," she nodded, leading them outside into the foliage. Her father shifted the car under tree cover before joining his daughter in the trees, their swords blending into the branches.

A streak of red and gold flitted across the night sky and Rayne found herself recognising the familiar flame trail of Iron Man, her fellow Avenger. She looked to her dad and growled under her breath when he'd disappeared from his perch in the tree next to her. "Men."

She leapt to the next tree, her eyes scanning for her father and her teammate. She caught a hint of red in the trees and zeroed in on her father just in time to see him drop onto the metallic shoulders of Tony's Iron Man suit with a clang as the sword struck metal.

Iron Man whirred spinning to throw Deadpool back to the ground with a grunt, "So, you're Daddy, huh?" The billionaire shouldn't have been surprised when the masked man leapt at him, throwing him onto his back with surprising force, a credit to his time as a lab rat.

"What's it to you, Stark?"

"Uh… I think you have issues. She's a grown up woman, fully capable of-" The billionaire was cut off as the sword came towards his face and dented his precious face plate. "That was rude."

A blast shot from the hands of the metal suit and Rayne decided that she had to intervene otherwise Tony or her father would be dead.

"Hey!" she yelled, dropping to the ground nearby but out of range of the blasts the men were exchanging. "They're so immature…" she groused to herself before spotting an opening and throwing herself between the two men with precision, intercepting the blasts like a professional.

She put her hands on her hips, "Was that really necessary?"

"He started it!" Both men yelled in sync before looking at the other and crossing their arms simultaneously. "Hey!"

Rayne lashed out. Slashing through the gun on Tony's shoulder and knocking the sword from her father's tensed hand. "Men…"

"Rayne!" both men called as they watched her stalk back to the cabin, appearing minutes later dressed in civilian clothes and with her bag slung over her shoulder. She arched a brow at the men, "Hurry up. If you take longer than two minutes, I leave for New York without you."

Tony chuckled, "Good to know you're going home, Ace."

The girl in question gave no outward sign that she heard him save for saying, "One minute, fifty two."

The men shared a look before Tony began peeling his Iron man suit from him manually for the drive back and Deadpool rushed into the house to change back. Both men were ready just in the nick of time and Rayne started the long drive back to New York and the impending gala. Her emotions must have been playing out on her face because her dad piped up, "What's up, Hun?"

"Nothing," she dismissed, sending her wayward curls in every other direction. "Just a little nervous."

"About what?" the men asked, scowling at each other when they spoke in sync.

"Nothing."

"What is it?" Stark asked, ever the persistent, and arrogant… and annoying. "Clint? Natasha? The Gala?" Her mouth twitched slightly. "Ah ha! You, the famous and vindictive Ace, are afraid of a teeny, tiny social event." He chuckled loudly.

"Teeny, Stark? Really?"

The man just chuckled sadistically before sobering under her father's withering glare, "Really though, it'll be fine, Ray."

The woman did not look convinced, only shrugging apathetically, "If you say so."

000000-000000

"No way!"

The shriek echoed around Avenger's Tower, startling the men from their musings as they dressed for the gala. Clint looked around warily, before turning to Steve, "Was that Rayne?"

The soldier shrugged, still looking a bit dazed from the technology show Tony put on to showcase the state of the art appliances in his home.

Rayne was stuck in her appointed room in the tower with Pepper standing over her, a maniacal glint in her eye. "Pepper, I think the push up bra is going a little too far, as is the lingerie and stripper heels."

"Do you not want to get Clint's attention?" Pepper asked the mercenary, a red eyebrow raised.

"Of course I do," she sighed, "But I don't want him thinking I'm a slut."

Natasha shared a laugh with Pepper before speaking up, "Rayne, Clint would stare at you in lust if you wore a paper bag, this is just for the press." When Rayne stared her down in challenge the scarlet-haired woman looked down at her fiercely, "Besides, if Pepper and I are dressed to the nines, you'll look a bit odd dressed as a Stepford wife, wouldn't you?"

Rayne sighed, giving in to the demanding red heads. Her father had seen her off to the Tower with Tony then he'd dropped off the face of the Earth without a trace. Apparently he had 'business' to take care of.

Rayne was buffed and polished and primped to perfection, her skin glowing softly. A grin lit up her face as she looked at her dress that her father had surprised her with, it was a red mermaid style dress, perfect for concealing weapons below her knees. It fit her like a second skin from the knees up, with silver detailing. Sleeves went to her elbows with a square neckline for the gown and Rayne felt like a star in it. Her hair was in a bouffant style before cascading into curls down her back.

The three girls strutted down into the foyer of the Tower and met up with not-so-subtle glances and lingering stares.

Clint walked up to Rayne and looked down at her, "You look beautiful, Rayne."

"Thanks, you look good too," she said before silence descended on them and they could think of nothing to say or do so let the silence fall over them.

"Let's go people! We're already late!" Pepper demanded, stalking from the room with Tony in tow. Rayne sighed, smiling at Clint before walking outside and jumping into the limo. They arrived quickly, the large building being ominous in its vibrancy with the mass of reporters either side of the red carpet. Rayne took a deep breath, stepping out of the limo regally, following Natasha's lead.

Shouts echoed around them as they stood together, presenting a united front in the face of the unknown.

They were ushered inside, taking their seats at the long table with microphones dotted along it, ready to answer the relentless reporters.

"Eileen Roberts, _The Times_. Mr Stark, what do you and your team have to say about the destruction you caused to New York?" a perky blonde asked, her blue eyes fixed on Stark's nonchalant form, Pepper watching from the wall.

"Well, I have successfully saved New York from aliens-" the genius began before he was interrupted.

"We saved New York," Steve cut in, ignoring Tony's glare. "You can't expect there to be no mess for an attack of that scale."

The reporter arched a brow, "And I can assume you are Captain America, then?"

"Yes, ma'am. Steven Rogers."

"Brandon Crawshaw, _Good Morning_. What are all your superhero names?"

"Let's see here," Tony called, "There's me – Iron Man. A God among men. Then you have Steve Rogers, the Cap. Next is the lovely Black Widow. Then you have Hawkhead-"

"Hawkeye," Clint snapped at him, the reporters listening eagerly.

"That's what I said," the billionaire sneered at Clint before continuing, "The Incredible Hulk, also known as Bruce Banner. And, the Black Ace, our wondrous mercenary turned Avenger."

"Uh… Nicole Simon, _The Met_. Miss Ace? What is it you do? Exactly? Eyewitnesses haven't been able to give a definitive answer-" the woman stopped when Rayne stood up, a smirk on her made-up face.

She bent down slowly, keeping eye contact with the reporters before snapping upright and simultaneously whipping her arm forwards, sending the knife sailing over the heads of the journalists and into the granite wall at the back. The audience hung there in silence, staring at the now submerged knife as security attempted to pull it from the stone.

"That," said Rayne with flair, "is what I do."

"Thank you," the nervous newsperson whispered nearly inaudibly.

Anything else?" Tony asked, the reporters perking up, screaming questions but Tony continued on as if they weren't even there, "No? Well, that's great! See ya!"

The team were led back outside, stopping for photos on the carpet before climbing into the limo and heading for the Gala. Rayne was dreading it.

000000-000000

The Gala passed Rayne by in a whirl of alcohol and dancing, Clint keeping her company throughout the ordeal. They all stepped back into the Tower with visible relief. Except Tony, he was being half carried by Steve as his sobriety slipped further from him, a pissed off Pepper following behind, fending off Tony's more amorous advances.

Wade Wilson was sat on the couch in front of the expensive television set, a bottle of scotch in his right hand and a bowl of popcorn in the other as the Avengers entered the Tower. Wade's eyes slid to his daughter and her exhausted but happy smile as she looked at him. What Deadpool also saw was the hand of Clint Barton resting on her lower back and his mind instantly went to how easily he could remove said hand from his daughter's person – bloodily.

Clint saw Wade's glare and sent him one of his own but wisely the Hawk removed his hand from Rayne as it was in his best interest to not anger the overprotective Wilson.

"I'm going to bed, Dad," Rayne told her father, noting something strange between Clint and her father but deciding not to pursue it in her frazzled mind. She hugged her father before leading Clint off in the direction of their separate bedrooms; feigning obliviousness to her father's heated glaring.

The remaining Avengers smiled at their two more romantically inclined teammates. Except Tony, who smirked and slurred out, "We all know what they're going to do, eh?"

The elder Wilson snapped his head to look at the now slightly afraid Stark and in a move so like his daughter's at the earlier conference; he snapped his arm around sending a small Japanese throwing star into the wall behind Tony.

Wade stood, fixed Tony with a glare before heading to his rooms, fighting the urge to go kill the billionaire. He peeked into his daughter's room with bated breath and sighed in relief when he saw only one figure on the extravagant double bed. She was still his little girl after all.

**Sorry it's taken so long. Enjoy this because RL is being just a bit annoying but updates should pick up again. Hopefully… **

**By the way, I have outlined the rest of the story and hope it will only be another four or so chapters after this (maybe…) so I can devote more time to my quickly growing Harry Potter fanfic called **_**Snakes and Souls**_**.**

**Currently, this story has… 67 favourites, 106 follows and 72 reviews! It's going great! Keep it up!**

**To clear things up, Rayne has never met her Mum/Mom/Mother. She's been with her dad since she can remember and Fury… that's a surprise. The Avengers don't know by the way. Keep reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Well, here is another chapter so soon after you got the last one, aren't you all lucky?**

**Chapter 11**

She ran tirelessly through a maze of corridors, knowing exactly were to go and what to do, slashing through men in black as they came at her. She never broke her stride as she worked her way to her destination that place that she just had to reach. She didn't know why, she just knew she had to, felt it in every fibre of her being. The scene changed suddenly and she found herself looking down at a cold metal table with a woman chained down, her face contorted in pain. A scream left her lips and Rayne found herself in her bed, alone.

000000-000000

Rayne breathed in harshly as she sat up in her bed, her back ramrod straight. A few stray tears fell from her eyes as her breathing and heart rate slowed their frantic paces. She climbed out of bed and left the room after any attempts at sleeping after her nightmare proved to be futile.

The hallways of the Avengers Tower seemed almost eerie in the absence of the dysfunctional team. The silence lingered hauntingly around her as she walked into Stark's top of the line kitchen.

The sound of movement froze her in place. It was two in the morning, nobody should have been up. She shouldn't have even been awake.

She reached over to the ornamental plant pot beside her frozen body and withdrew a katana and a handgun. She stowed the gun in the back of her pyjama pants and gripped the sword tighter in her palms, relishing its power and uniqueness. She slipped into the room; a male figure was illuminated by the large window that gave a view of the lights of the New York cityscape. She took a breath, silently rolling into the cover of the island unit, her every thought and feeling focussed on taking out whoever was in the kitchen at such an hour.

000000-000000

Clint stilled just before sinking his teeth into the sandwich in his hand. He could hear an almost inaudible pair of footsteps behind him. The owner creeping forwards towards his unguarded and exposed back. Instincts took over as he calmly opened a draw in front of him, withdrawing a knife from within before listening carefully to the near silent person behind him. Their silence was a measure of their lethalness and experience. The more silent an assassin or mercenary, the more deadly they were.

Clint felt a slight movement in the air behind him and katana met knife with a metallic screech that resounding around the room. Brown eyes met stormy grey and both Avengers flew back in shock.

"Clint-"

"Rayne-"

"I'm so sorry!" they cried.

Rayne took another deep breath and smiled up at Clint reassuringly, "It's okay. I nearly took your head off."

He scoffed jokingly, "Are you sure about that? I would have stabbed you before you could."

"Really?" she asked with a laugh.

"Really." He wrapped his arms around her after a moment of hesitation as the 'What if's' ran through his mind. Rayne sunk into Clint's embrace and grinned up at him supportively, watching as he closed the gap between their faces, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss. He pulled away slightly, leaving no more than an inch between them, watching her wide grey eyes, "I really am sorry, Rayne."

She sighed in exasperation, "It's okay, Clint. We're both still alive. No blood, no foul."

"Fine," Clint growled out, his instincts warring, telling him that he had only been defending himself but also simultaneously saying that he could have seriously hurt Rayne. They stood in silence for a minute before Clint spoke again, "Sorry for snapping, I'm a bit wound up still."

She looked up at him with her wide smoky grey eyes, "Why? What's wrong?"

"Loki," Clint muttered, running his hand through his short brown hair.

Rayne nodded knowingly, "Nightmares. Of the Tesseract?"

He just nodded to her in silent agreement, not wanting to admit his fears out loud as that always made them much more real and much more unbearable. He hated weakness.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she offered, watching the conflict in his eyes.

He looked at her carefully, considering his options before deciding, "No." He smiled mockingly, "How about you? Do you want to talk about it?"

Rayne smirked up at the archer, "Of course." She took his hand and led him into the television room before pushing him down onto the couch and sitting beside him with a small smile.

"You really want to talk about Loki?" he asked her with just a hint of vulnerability.

"No, I don't," Rayne whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "I don't want to re-visit the past and bring up bad memories. Loki is in my past and that is where he is going to stay. There's no need to go over what happened, I understand. And yes, I hated it and at times regret not killing him when I could but the bottom line is, and will always be, that I lived to tell the tale. I got through and didn't break into a million pieces."

Clint nodded, silently taking in her whispered words of wisdom before he asked, "Can I hold you?"

She didn't say a word, just silently sunk into his arms, her ear pressed over his heart, listening to the cool thud of its rhythm.

Clint smiled, pressing his face into her curly black hair, inhaling the smell of her shampoo. A murmur escaped Rayne and Clint pulled back enough to see her tanned face. He felt a smile creep into life on his own face as he realised that she had fallen asleep in his arms.

With a smile, he snuggled up with her, pulling her body onto his lap to make it more comfortable before joining her in sleep with a grin on his face.

000000-000000

"Sir," Jarvis called, stopping the Avengers mid-laugh as their eyes all turned to the ceiling at the possible location for the artificial intelligence known as Jarvis, "Director Fury is calling, he says it is most urgent-"

"Tell One-Eye to cool it and leave. He is not to be let up here Jarvis. I don't want 'ode de Fury' stinking up the loft again."

Rayne chuckled, smothering her laughter behind her hand as Tony proceeded to roll his eyes at the AI's insistence that Fury very much wanted to speak with him.

"Jarvis!" Tony called, "I made you, and I can just as easily unmake you!"

The artificial intelligence sighed, sounding weary to all who could hear, "Very well, Sir."

Tony smirked in satisfaction before continuing to nurse his cup of black coffee with a tenderness and love usually reserved for Pepper only. He looked up feeling the eyes of the Avengers and Pepper on him, "What?"

"You know, Tony," Rayne told him sternly.

"You didn't have to be so mean to Jarvis," Steve agreed.

Tony growled a sigh, wincing at the hangover headache it caused, "Look Cap, I made Jarvis. I am his master. He isn't real and he sure doesn't have any feelings either."

The Captain screwed up his face before digging into his third plate of pancakes with a focus Tony usually reserved for alcohol or Pepper.

"We all know Jarvis isn't real, Tony," Bruce told him, "What Steve and Rayne were trying to say is that even though he isn't real in the sense of you and I, he is still somewhat alive and deserves to be treated as such."

"That's all well and good but-" Tony was cut off by the elevator doors sliding open to reveal a very angry Director Fury and a new lackey that, as far as the Avengers were concerned, didn't measure up to Phil Coulson.

"Mr Stark," the Director of SHIELD greeted them coolly, his eyes sliding to the others in the kitchen, "Avengers, Miss Potts."

"Hey, baby girl," Wade said as he walked into the room nonchalantly, pressing a kiss to Rayne's sleep ruffled curls. "Sleep well?"

"Uh… Dad?" she asked unsurely, trying to direct her father's attention to the big, angry problem in the room.

Wade Wilson turned, leaning against the counter with a floral teacup in his hands, his eyes locked on Nick Fury and he could supress the smirk, "Hey, Nicky."

Nicolas Fury growled lowly, "Wade Wilson."

Said man just smirked at the fuming Director, "Good to see you, too. How's Jenny doing?"

A vein began to throb in the centre of Nick Fury's forehead as he ground his teeth together; glaring at the indifferent man in front of him, looking just the same as the day he'd met him. "I wouldn't know," the Director replied harshly, "I haven't seen her since the day you two walked out the door."

Wade scoffed, "Rubbish, Fury. Stop spouting lies! She came back to you the day after my little rain cloud was born, saying about how I was never around, I couldn't commit, yada, yada, yada… So, stop with the lies, Nicky."

"I am being serious, Wilson," Fury bellowed in aggravation, the Avengers all but forgotten as he stared down Deadpool. "I haven't seen or heard from her since she walked out the door, with you, all those years ago. My best efforts to find her have turned up nothing."

A look of worry slid onto Wade's face unauthorised before he shoved it away harshly, pulling up a cool façade of triviality, "Clearly you haven't been trying that hard then."

The Director of SHIELD gritted his teeth against the urge to pummel the mercenary but had very little success, his hand itching to pop a bullet between his eyes and be done with it but the thought of Rayne in the room seemed to nullify the urge somewhat. "It's a bit difficult to search when I have the Council breathing down the back of my neck all the time." The Director sighed sounding weary to everyone in the room. Most of them were shocked at the Director showing any form of weakness, others dismissed it as some kind of ploy or underhanded tactic to get what he wanted. Rayne assumed that was her father behind bars or in a maximum security detention cell somewhere.

"Look," Wade said, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room to himself, "I apologise for the way things ended but she left me and Rayne of her own free will."

Rayne stood up slowly from the table, "Who are you talking about? Dad? Fury?"

Wade sighed, "We're talking about your mother, Ray."

Rayne's breathing sped up slightly as she looked between the two men with wide, innocent grey eyes, eyes so different to her father's, "What are you talking about? What about my mother? Who is she, even?"

Fury looked to Wade sharply, "You haven't told her? I mean, I suspected you hadn't but even still..."

Wade fixed fury with a glare before fixing his almost childish eyes on his adult daughter who looked more and more like her mother every day, a blessing and a curse for him. "Your mother was a mutant seer named Jasmine."

"What?" Tony asked, piping up for the first time in about ten minutes, his coffee forgotten, "Like as in seeing the future? With tarot cards and a crystal ball and all that crap?"

"Stark!" Rayne, Wade and Nick barked in sync, their penetrating glares fixed on the now defensive billionaire.

"What? I was just asking," he defended.

Wade sighed turning back to face his only daughter, Rayne, "Your mother was named Jasmine Fury." When Rayne just looked at him with wide, confused eyes, he spoke again, "Rayne, your mother was the daughter of Director Nicolas Fury of SHIELD. You are Director Fury's granddaughter."

**Done! Another chapter within less than a week of the other one! How awesome am I? Keep reading and reviewing people! Your feedback keeps me going. Also, what did you think of Fury? Wade? Rayne and Clint? Tell me, your feedback means everything to me! Until the next chapter, this is Agent Maddyson signing out! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Swords and Arrows by Maddyson Ruby**

**Characters: Clint/OC**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit. All recognisable characters belong to Marvel.**

**Here is the last chapter! Enjoy it.**

**Last time in Chapter 11:**

Rayne stood up slowly from the table, "Who are you talking about? Dad? Fury?"

Wade sighed, "We're talking about your mother, Ray."

Rayne's breathing sped up slightly as she looked between the two men with wide, innocent grey eyes, eyes so different to her father's, "What are you talking about? What about my mother? Who is she, even?"

Fury looked to Wade sharply, "You haven't told her? I mean, I suspected you hadn't but even still..."

Wade fixed fury with a glare before fixing his almost childish eyes on his adult daughter who looked more and more like her mother every day, a blessing and a curse for him. "Your mother was a mutant seer named Jasmine."

"What?" Tony asked, piping up for the first time in about ten minutes, his coffee forgotten, "Like as in seeing the future? With tarot cards and a crystal ball and all that crap?"

"Stark!" Rayne, Wade and Nick barked in sync, their penetrating glares fixed on the now defensive billionaire.

"What? I was just asking," he defended.

Wade sighed turning back to face his only daughter, Rayne, "Your mother was named Jasmine Fury." When Rayne just looked at him with wide, confused eyes, he spoke again, "Rayne, your mother was the daughter of Director Nicolas Fury of SHIELD. You are Director Fury's granddaughter."

**Chapter 12**

Rayne stood in shock, watching her father and the man she now knew to be her grandfather stand there and tell her of her mother like they were discussing the weather. They were just so blasé about the whole thing, like it wasn't earth shattering and monumental news in its own right. She felt like she couldn't breath as a bubble of emotion welled up in her, rising from her stomach to her throat until she felt like she would be sick. It was vile and chilled her to the bone as she stood in the living room of the Avenger's loft in what used to be Stark Tower.

"Rayne? Baby girl? Are you okay?" her father asked, his voice sounding distant to her ears.

"Rayne!" another voice yelled from her side, her blurry eyes managing to register Clint's face before her sight faded away before her eyes and left her seeing the endless halls of her nightmares. The very same halls she could remember running down and through in her dreamscape. The dream world blurred, as it always did at that moment, and Rayne looked down to see a woman on a metal table, the rusty chains biting sharply into her wrists. A scream tumbled from the woman's dark lips as the man standing above her, pressed a knife into her palm slowly and painfully.

"Stop!" A voice hissed in a manner more befitting of a snake as he strode into the room purposefully. The other man stepped away from the table like a child being told of by their parents. "Jasmine Fury," the man hissed again, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen…"

Rayne took in every detail of the woman's face numbly, the familiar grey eyes, the milk chocolate skin and the ever-present physique of a woman who fought for a living.

"You've certainly kept us running, haven't you, my dear?" he hissed into her ear, taking glee in her whimpers. "Now, my lovely," he whispered, "We here, at HYDRA, have a treat for you." He snapped his fingers and two men walked in dragging someone between them brusquely.

The new person's face was hidden from Rayne but the mop of black curls struck a chord far too close to home.

"We found her breaking in, trying to get to you." He sneered at the pair, "She, too, gave herself up for the one she 'loves'. She sacrificed herself for the archer. It's laughable, is it not?"

Rayne gasped loudly as her vision returned to normal and she saw the faces of her father, Fury and Clint surrounding her as she blinked open her eyes and fought to catch her breath after the traumatic ordeal of the images she had just seen.

"Are you okay, Rayne?" Clint asked her softly, looking about as scared as she'd ever seen him.

Before she could answer, her father snapped at Clint," Of course, she's not okay! She just passed out, you moron!"

"Dad-" Rayne tried to protest weakly but he didn't listen.

"I can't believe you'd ask such a stupid question!" her father thundered, working himself up, out f his normally suave demeanour whilst Clint sat and took the hurled abuse.

"Wade," Fury grumbled, smacking the back of his head, catching the other man's attention, "She's a seer."

Silence reigned through the room as everyone absorbed the words, before Natasha spoke up, "How do you know, sir?"

Fury smirked at his agent, "I raised one, Romanoff. Jasmine was a good seer, seems to me like every two minutes she was 'seeing' something." Fury turned to look back down at Rayne, a slight shimmer of worry in his dark eyes, "Now, Rayne, what did you see?"

She took a deep breath, leaning back to rest her head on the floor, "I saw my mother," she murmured so quietly they had to strain to hear her. Rayne saw her father and Fury exchange a loaded glance before both of them looked back to her.

"What about her?" Wade asked, watching his daughter's face carefully, wanting to growl at the sight of the archer, Clint, so close to his only daughter.

Rayne took a deep breath, "They have her. HYDRA do," she whispered softly.

It became silent again before Stark spoke, "Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?" the AI asked politely.

"Get on that right away."

"Yes, sir. I will notify you when I have results."

Rayne smiled slightly at Tony before begging Clint with her eyes to help her up into a sitting position, he slid his arms around her shoulders and gently eased her upright so she could sit on her own instead of lying on the floor incapacitated like an invalid.

"We'll find her," Clint whispered in her ear softly, pressing a gently kiss to her cheek. Fury stared him down, as did Wade, but both never commented as Rayne was escorted to the kitchen by Steve and Clint, their eyes following her carefully, watching as she accepted a cup of mint tea from Bruce and a pat on the head from Tony.

It was subdued and quiet amongst the Avengers as they all subtly watched Rayne and helped her out in their own ways. Jarvis' interruption of their peace brought silence to them all.

"Sir?" Jarvis asked. " I have located the HYDRA base. I am sending the co-ordinates now."

"Brilliant, Jarvis," Tony praised before looking to the others in the room, Avengers, Deadpool? Suit up."

The team all scrambled and left, each running to their rooms for their equipment. Rayne did the same, relishing the feel of her body suit and the familiar weight of her weapons as she armed herself. She knew then that she wouldn't be coming out of the mission with the others and that was a hard pill for Rayne to swallow but she would grin and bear it. If her mom could do it, so could she.

Thinking quickly she pulled out a pad of paper and began to write.

_To Clint,_

_I'm sorry for not telling you this sooner or face to face but time is against me – I love you. Even if you don't. If you're reading this then, I have been captured by HYDRA and am currently being held with my mother. Please, do not come after me, it isn't worth it. I'm not worth the risk to your life._

_Love, Rayne Wilson_

She quickly folded the letter and slid it into an envelope labelled, Clint, before pulling out another sheet of paper and beginning to right once more.

_To my fellow Avengers,_

_Thank you for saving my life and saving New York with me. You have been my first whole family and please, don't forget that. I love you all, live long for me._

_Love, Rayne Wilson_

She wiped away a stray tear and put the letter into a marked envelope before leaving them on her bed next to each other.

"Jarvis?" she asked, looking to the ceiling, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, Miss Wilson?" the AI, known only as Jarvis responded calmly.

"Can you, please, tell the Avengers to get these two letters from my room when they get back here after the HYDRA mission?" she asked him hopefully.

"Yes, Miss Wilson."

Rayne smiled shakily, before steeling her nerves and pulling on her harness for the swords she always wore into a fight and striding out of her room proudly and grouping up with the Avengers on the roof by the large helicopter pad.

"Ready, Rayne?" Clint asked, taking her hand pulling her into the Quinjet after she smiled at him in reply. "Good."

They all sat in silence as the jet flew to the coordinates Jarvis had found and determined HYDRA to be at. They arrived silently, each of them creeping out of the Quinjet and into the open, looking at the petrol station they knew the base to be under.

"Ready?" Steve asked with his Captain America voice in place, his stance immovable.

"Ready," Tony agreed and within seconds the front of the station had shattered, allowing the Avengers to just walk into the place and head to the store room at the back where the stairs to the lower levels were – where HYDRA were. They stormed the compound before coming to a large room with three doors going off. They team paused, dividing up to carry on going.

Rayne watched as Tony and Bruce took the first one, Natasha and Steve took the second and she and Clint ran for the third one. Rayne felt the familiar sense of déjà vu as she ran along the hallways, Clint at her side, his bow ready to fire. She had pulled out her sword, ready to take down any agent in her way. They carried on quickly, only pausing to incapacitate guards. Rayne led them along before the sound of many feet reached her ears and she knew then that something had gone wrong. A distant roar signalled that the Hulk was out to play. She and Clint walked into the next hall only to be met with the sight of twenty or so guards stationed and ready to take them out. With a nod to Clint she ran into the open, her dual swords out and spinning, dicing up the guards and dodging and blocking bullets. With a growl, she ran through the last one before looking at Hawkeye's shocked face.

An explosion sounded to their right as the wall caved in and the Hulk ran through, a hoard of agents on his tail. Rayne grinned, slicing her way through them like they were air. A single agent appeared at Clint's blind spot and Rayne watched, horrified as he took aim. She dove, slicing through the bullet aimed at the man she loved. It split into two, darting to the sides and sinking into two of the agents around them.

She took a punch to her side and shied away from the pain as the hits kept coming. She was hoisted into the air and she could feel herself being taken away.

The last thing of Clint she heard was a distorted, "Rayne! No!" as she watched Tony Stark pick him up and fly him out of there. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she faded into blackness.

000000-000000

Clint lay in his bed, holding her letter close as he read over its precious words again, 'I love you'. She loved him enough to sacrifice herself for him, to die for him. Clint couldn't deal with it as he let several tears fall from his brown eyes. He hadn't even told her that he loved her, too.

The realisation had him sitting up and clutching his chest as he scrabbled and fought with himself to gain control of his turbulent emotions. He loved Rayne Wilson – nobody could take that from him. They had taken Rayne from him, though. That was not acceptable. He stood up and walked out to see his comrades all huddled up at the kitchen table.

"We're getting her back," he told them fiercely, "if you won't help me, I'll do it myself."

Tony looked up and smirked, "We're in, what have you got in mind?"

Clint didn't say a word, he just smirked in reply, folding up his letter and putting it under his uniform, close to his heart. Just like Rayne.

000000-000000

Rayne blearily opened her eyes at the new pain in her legs as she was roughly dragged along by two burly men, her legs unresponsive as the dragged along the floor. She could tell from the congealing blood on her wounds and the developed aches and bruises that she had been out for at least a day or so. A door opened in front of her and she felt herself being pulled through into the stark white lighting of the room. It was all white tiles and reminded her of her prison in the SHIELD Helicarrier far more than she would have liked to admit. The thing was, she wasn't on the SHIELD Helicarrier, she was in HYDRA's subterranean base.

Rayne saw a man standing over a blinding metal table with the slim legs of a woman on top from what she could see. A man in a lab coat stood on the other side of the table with glee written in his eyes and all over his face as he looked at the whimpering, sobbing woman that Rayne knew to be Jasmine Fury – her mother.

The man nearest to her drew her attention as he leaned right down near her mother's face, "We found her breaking in, trying to get to you." He sneered at the pair of them, "She, too, gave herself up for the one she 'loves'. She sacrificed herself for the archer. It's laughable, is it not?"

Rayne pulled her head up slightly to glare at the man through her curtain of black hair that she could see she'd also gotten from her mother, something she'd suspected but never really believed, despite her father's assurances.

She was strapped down on another metal lab table besides her mother and stormy grey eyes met stormy grey as mother and daughter looked at each other for the first time in far too many years.

"Aww…" a voice interrupted, "How… touching." The mocking drew Rayne's attention to the HYDRA agent who seemed jubilant at the sight of her infuriation. He chuckled again, walking to their feet and placing a hand on both Rayne and her mother's shins.

He lowered the knives and just allowed them to feel the coldness of the metal biting into their skin. A monotone voice came over the system, "We have a security breach on level four, all able personnel to stations. I repeat, all able personnel to stations."

"Avery!" barked the man in charge, "Go see what the fuss is all about!"

"Yes, sir," the man said, disappearing into the hallway just as gunfire rung through the place. The man fell back through the door, his lab coat stained red with his own blood and his eyes lifeless and vacant.

An arrow flew through the doorway, embedding itself in the HYDRA agent standing above Rayne and her mother. He clutched at his arm, his eyes widening in horror as the Avengers filed in one by one.

"End of the line," Clint growled, an arrow nocked already as he took aim at the man's skull.

The agent let out a maniac laugh, reminiscent of Loki as Clint's patience waned and the arrow hit its mark perfectly.

Clint rushed forward, unstrapping her and heaving her into his arms. He looked down at her as her eyes sought his and rushed from the room, the others in tow with Jasmine Fury being carried by Captain America.

The left quickly, just outside when the petrol station exploded in a ball of flame, toppling in on itself and trapping and killing everyone inside instantly.

Rayne let out a breathless laugh as she was carried to the Quinjet in Clint's arms, her eyesight fading to black sporadically.

Rayne felt her eyes zone out and watched as a slightly older version of herself cradled something close to her chest, a big smile beaming across her face as she looked down at the blankets with love in her eyes. An arm appeared around her shoulder and Clint looked down at the prized object in her arms, "You did good, Ray."

She smiled up at him, pressing a kiss to his jaw, "No, baby. We did good. He's perfect, isn't he?"

Rayne suddenly could see what rest in her arms, swaddled amongst several big blankets, a tiny baby boy lay gazing up at her with dusk coloured eyes and sandy brown hair. He yawned, stretching his little arms before falling into a deep sleep.

"I love you, Clint."

"I love you too, Rayne."

Rayne's vision slowly cleared and she snuggled deeper into Clint's embrace, smiling sleepily at the bright future she had.

**The End**

**It is over. My longest story so far is now done. How awesome! Yay! Consider it an early Valentine's Day present for my awesome readers, now can we boost my reviews to over ninety, or even one hundred? I don't know but please, try. Tell me if you liked it so when I do one of the other Avenger stories floating in my brain, I will do it better than this one. Also, if you want to see more on the Avengers then favourite me as an Author. **

**Now, I'm off to bed…**

**Love you all, Maddyson Ruby.**


End file.
